If you want a spectacular setting for a concert and you're not too keen on the annual quagmirefest hosted in the Isle of Avalon then how about a stage between a Rainforest and a Mediterranean climate in a quarried out bowl in Cornwall. The Eden Project near St Austell has been hosting the Eden Sessions since 2002 in this very location and tonight's show is billed as PJ Harvey plus Special Guest. Those of us who got here early enough to make use of the Eden Project pass which is included in the cost of the gig ticket and represents great value for money, saw Jehnny Beth from Savages sound-checking and worked out who the Special Guest was. It's best we let Jehnny explain why she's here “My friend Polly asked me to play some songs tonight and you don't say no to Polly Jean Harvey”, and possibly PJ Harvey had a spare seat on the bus back from Glastonbury.
Whilst Jehnny's stage attire is the usual black and white combination, in a marked contrast to the often intense and brutal Savages live show she sits at the piano and plays 30 minutes of touching and beautiful ballads, finishing with a version of 'Adore', from the most recent Savages album which she says was originally written on the piano.
All dressed in black and wearing a crown of raven feathers PJ Harvey accompanied by her nine-piece band slow march onto stage. The slow march is to the beat of funeral drums which half the band are playing, the other half playing brass for the intro to 'Chain of Keys' from 'The Hope Six Demolition Project'. The first five tracks tonight are all from the new album , the highlight being 'The Community of Hope' which criticises the Hope VI regeneration project in Ward 7, Washington D.C, the chorus of “They're gonna put a Walmart here”; being the unlikely solution.
The instantly recognisable intro to 'Let England Shake' starts a triple whammy from that Mercury award winning album. The band co-ordinate hand clamps through the “ What if I take my problem to the United Nations” lines from 'The Words that Maketh Murder'. Polly says virtually nothing during the show but she embellishes the songs through mime and movement ; during 'This Glorious land' she turns to the band and demands of them “ And what is this glorious fruit of our land ?” to get the response from the band “Its fruit is deformed children”.
The set list is dominated by tracks from the two most recent albums, but towards the end of the show there are three older tracks : John Parish hammering out the guitar riff to '50ft Queenie' with Polly throwing shapes around him; 'Down by the River' and its creepy “Little Fish, Big Fish swimming in the water ...” outro and 'To Bring you My Love'. The main set finishes with a melancholic and haunting 'River Anacostia', the band removed of all of their instruments for the acapella outro “Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water” as they slow march depart from the stage as they arrived to the sound of the funeral drums.
They return for single song encore of 'Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln' before taking their bows, thank you and good-nights. These brilliant, flawless musicians and Polly's hypnotic, commanding stage presence in this beautiful setting puts this show amongst the most memorable of the year.
Alisdair Whyte
