The Triumphant Return Of PJ Harvey

I had the good fortune to see PJ Harvey (above) live in concert at The Royal Festival Hall on Saturday night,29 September. This was the 8th time I have seen her live over the years and she did not disappoint.

For anyone not familiar with the Royal Festival Hall on southbank, it is a very poncey venue where music is treated with almost sombre formality i.e you cannot gain re-admittance to the arena from the toilets until there is a suitable break in the proceedings. Frustrating, when the tickets cost forty quid, and you have had a few beers before hand. Despite the enforced snobbery, it has got brilliant acoustics and I had a reasonable view in the rear stalls.

This was PJ's first London gig in four years, so the fans were rightly excited and she got a huge reception when the tiny singer appeared on the stage. She immediately startled the audience, because she didn't have her band with her, and was going to give a one woman show. Dressed in a strange almost bridal Victorian white dress, with crazy curls hairstyle, she treated the audience to a short set by her standards (1 hr 3o mins) but the musical virtuosity on display made this a very striking gig. There were no special effects, but this was so atmospheric.

She is almost like a female Prince, due to her mastery of many different instruments, Blues Guitar, Bass, Electric Guitar, Piano, Celtic Harp and drum machine were all used tonight.

Polly's new album "White Chalk" is once again, a change in direction. It is largely piano based and has an almost celtic beauty to it. Vastly different to her last discordant punky guitar rock album "Uh Huh Her'. We were treated to the whole of the new album and plenty from her vast back catalogue including brilliant raw versions of 'Mansize' and 'Rid Of Me'.

Surprisingly, it was the new material which really stood out tonight, the haunting beauty of title song 'White Chalk' almost bringing a tear to the eye. The other highlights were new song 'The Devil' which sees Polly's voice soar to quite ridiculous heights. Quite amazing. There was also a gutsy version of the intense 'Big Exit' from her mercury music winner 'Stories From The City..Stories from the Sea'. My favourite album from PJ.

Another thing that surprised me about the gig, was that Polly seemed to be really enjoying herself, she came across as quite a warm personality, as she bantered with the audience. Not something she usually does! She must really like her new material.

Some of the audience booed when there was not a second encore, obviously too much beer before hand, and cultural philistines to boot. You see this snobbery is catching!

I also heard some malcontents muttering that crowd pleasers 'Dress' or 'Sheela na Gig' were not played. These songs are classics but the event was not billed as a greatest hits show, so kindly shut up. With eight studio albums, nine if you count The John Parrish collaboration to her name, you cannot please all of the people, all of the time.

This was an unusual, special concert that I will remember for a long time. Welcome back Polly, you have been away far too long.