At MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Wednesday, PJ Harvey performed songs across her catalog: from 1992’s debut Dirt all the way up to last year’s Grammy nominated album I Inside the Old Year Dying. The show is titled “An Evening with PJ Harvey” and there was no opener. The concert began promptly at 8, when Harvey and co. played through the entirety of her latest album.
The set design on the stage resembled a Chekhov play, like we were about to see a rendition of The Cherry Orchard or Uncle Vanya. Rustic, antique home furniture was languidly spread across the spacious performance stage, similar to a salon. There was a fully set kitchen table with glassware, candles and a vase where musician Giovanni Ferrari would occaisionally sit. There was a worn out looking church pew on the far stage left where Harvey would sometimes be stationed. Behind them was a hulking stucco wall that was scarred, lighting changing the wall from looking like they were buskers playing in front of an old castle or colosseum wall. Sometimes the lighting would make the wall look fleshy and bloody, casting a grimmer backdrop over the brooding music.
The four piece backing band were dressed plainly, while Polly Jean entered with a long white cloak that featured bleary black branches, a wintery scene encapsulating her and by association the audience. The tone of the lighting was mostly cold and white on stage, with dramatic lights shining from the sides and even the floor, for dramatic effect to enhance the theatricality of the performance.
PJ Harvey signposts months periodically to help guide the listener through the titular year for the album, I Inside the Old Year Dying. The second song, “Autumn Term,” matched the nature visuals as well, beginning with the sound of faint birds migrating. Harvey spent the outro with the children’s voice samples throwing her body upwards into glistening light on every chant. On “Lwonesome Tonight,” when she sang “will you come back again?,” she gazed searchingly around the theater. “The Nether-edge” was a hypnotic number, which began with Harvey singing “heavy in the meadows,” she spun in her seat to the echoey, ominous beat. Nature feels awesome and terrifying. Annually, we’ve now moved from Autumn into Spring.
The brevity of many of these tunes act like quick jabs of ephemeral ideas and then they blow away with the wind. The title track is upbeat and more easily accessible, a strummer that clocks in at under two minutes. Album lead single, “A Child’s Question, August” has a luxurious soundscape as she sings “Love me tender, tender love.”
The MGM Music Hall at Fenway is twice the size of House of Blues in terms of capacity, which was where PJ Harvey played last time she was here in 2017. The gracious use of reverb and delay in these songs sound grand in the luscious space afforded by the music hall, adding great depth to the ambient tracks that accompany Harvey’s brand of goth-folk rock. The facility is very well made, excellent sight lines, excellent lighting, sparkling audio, and great ventilation.
After the album (and first set) closed, Harvey went backstage for a costume change into a sleeveless floor length white dress and white boot. The four remaining members stood side by side to sing a post-World War I era folk song The Colour of the Earth that name checks the trenches. I’m reminded by this of the many tunes she contributed to the soundtrack of Peaky Blinders, the hit series about post WWI England gangsters.
From this point in the show she performed a wide range from her catalog. Personal favorites from this second set were “The Garden” off of Is This Desire? Which featured an arresting use of a shadow and play with scale using a foot light that projected the band onto the back wall. The final song in the encore was the devastating “White Chalk,” doubling duty with a harmonica solo, she closed with lyrics “Dorset’s cliffs meet at the sea/ Where I walked our unborn child in me/White chalk gorse-scattered land/Scratch my palms/There’s blood on my hands.”
The band took a second bow, arm in arm, allowing themselves to smile for the first time that evening. It felt like watching a play even though it was a concert, which makes it more of a modern opera. I encourage anyone who’s even just a casual fan to check out this thoughtful and artfully produced show.
Check out all of Harry’s photos from the show below.
