PJ Harvey : Classic or Dud

i think it was the nether edge that first switched me on to the album.

She was every bit as good as I'd hoped and expected at the recent live show (I went to the second night in Glasgow).

Given that, I'm more than a little tempted by the London show that's just been announced for next year at Gunnersbury Park. What's that like as a venue, if anyone has been? I also only know Big Thief from the others on the bill, in case there's anything in particular I should check out to aid decision making.

PJ Harvey announces her only London summer performance of 2024 at Gunnersbury Park, a Grade II listed parkland venue within walking distance of Acton Town and Ealing Broadway, on Sunday 18th August 2024.

PJ Harvey says, “I’m grateful to Gunnersbury Park for inviting me to curate this event. I have chosen what I feel to be some of the most exciting artists working today. With them I hope to be able to give the audience an emotional, heartening and uplifting experience.”

The line-up includes special guests Big Thief, Tirzah, and Shida Shahabi.

Saw her last month and all I can say is her current show is insanely good—perhaps not surprisingly, I have never seen her be anything less than stellar live, but she still exceeded my expectations. She had a small four-person backing band featuring John Parish and James Johnston from Gallon Drunk/Bad Seeds and a pretty simple but theatrical staging (old furniture scattered all over lol). The first half focused just on I Inside the Old Year Dying performed from the beginning to the end (and boy how this album comes alive in concert!) and then the second hour was pretty much a back catalogue dive, from Let England Shake through favs from Is This Desire (“The Garden”!) and To Bring You My Love to early work like "Man-Size" or "Dress". Vocally impeccable and she hasn’t lost an ounce of her charisma.

And yes, she’s doing festivals/open air shows in Europe next year and then a tour of the US in the fall—don’t miss!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtYDx_2L1mo

Cool. Miss rockin' Polly. That trio ruled.

That Gunnersbury Park show...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSUgrhmtXIw

Glad I held off on the London show now, with more dates just announced, including Halifax at The Piece Hall, which looks like a really nice venue. Might look into heading there instead.

the 13 Oct Paris show will be on Arte's youtube channel in two days:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30IJIexCS24

I've been working my way through the mass of Harvey vinyl I've acquired in the past couple of years (demos, B-sides box, neglected albums).

Let England Shake demos might be my favorite demo disc. It's startling to hear those songs paired back and raw.

Hope Six demos are better than the actual album. If she had just released those through a web site or as a smaller project it would probably have a better reputation. It's still not great by any means, but smallness helps it.

cool, I'll give those a listen. I haven't actually listened to the demos for any of these (other than the old 4 track Demos release); I picked up the Peel Sessions record but that was it.

late to the new one but really liking it, sounds like her ghost made a record

that Paris concert just started streaming fyi

I've been a doubter but no more, that is a fantastic show. What an artist.

yes, I needed to see the live performances to get me over the line re: the album again (this seems to be the pattern with me and her albums now)

3 songs missing from the complete show: 16 Angelene, 17 Send His Love to Me and 24 C'mon Billy

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pj-harvey/2023/lolympia-bruno-coquatrix-paris-france-2ba3443a.html

Angelene is a big favourite, I'm glad she's comfortable going back to it.

yeah wish those were included; this is a great show

fitting she closed this with White Chalk, I've been thinking that's the album the new one is most like (also an album lots of people had a hard time with; it's one of my favorites, I like her gothy shit)

oh maybe I should listen to the new one then, I love White Chalk

sounds like her ghost made a record

this is an accurate description

Let England Shake demos might be my favorite demo disc. It's startling to hear those songs paired back and raw.

gave several of the demo discs a partial listen over the past day; some are interesting, some are not; some have replay value, some don't (some of the ones for Is this Desire sounds like the demos were just overdubbed and worked on to become the final versions). The most illuminating thing about Let England Shake was how those songs appear to have been written around samples from other tracks; suddenly "gonna take my problems to the united nations" makes total sense, the entire drum rhythm for the song comes from Summertime Blues.

Great new interview / live session from World Cafe:
https://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2023/12/15/1219342795/pj-harvey-album-i-inside-the-old-year-dying

Offers some candid insights into writing Hope 6:

I can remember whilst I was writing The Hope Six Demolition Project album, which was the album prior to this one, it felt like hard work. I had to really graft to get anything good, and that seemed to continue. And even the songs that I was writing, I felt like they were just missing the mark for what I really wanted to be doing. It was such a struggle, and it was not enjoyable. I thought, “I’m not enjoying this, this is feeling more like homework you’ve got to do than the love of my life”. And I just kept thinking, “Keep working through it, just work through it, it will pass”. And it didn’t, really.

She's been reading my posts: "each of the subsequent records, despite having a few notable songs, felt like homework, 'this-is-for-your-own-good' art."

I can't find that quote in the interview page - has it been edited, maybe?

^ I transcribed it from the audio interview, the quotes on the website are just excerpts

Oh nice! Will listen.

PJ Harvey ticketmaster pre-sale today for some shows in North America

password is NOISELESS

Got my ticket !!!

got 4th row at the Greek. probably the first time I've spent over $100 for a ticket, but worth it. other than the reading/mini-set she did in the fall, haven't seen her in 20 years.

i’ll be further back in the greek, nearly considered buying closer but i don’t get paid til later in the week. went to her last show there on the ‘hope six’ tour, can’t waitttt

I briefly considered getting a ticket but just couldn't pull the trigger for a $100+ ticket considering I like but don't love her album from last year and I know she'll play older tracks and it'll be a great show overall but why do shows have to be so fucking expensive these days fuck this

Not a fan of Terminal 5 here in NYC, the venue really sucks for multiple reasons, but I guess the tradeoff is that the show's GA with tickets being $85 including fees. Is the Greek really nice?

Pondering a ticket

I'm glad to finally be on my proper jouney with PJ
I've danced around it for years

really assumed the masonic shows in SF would be fully seated but apparently floor is GA, which is fine. Happy these tickets were only $75, completely reasonable for how amazing this is going to be.

DC show at Anthem appears to be GA too

for the floor