1995. The year of the OJ Simpson Trial, the disappearance of Richey Edwards, and the perfect game of Expo’s pitcher Pedro Martinez. It was also the last time PJ Harvey headlined a show in Montreal (at Olympia, in case you were curious). Only fair that she should make her return after 22 years away with two back-to-back shows, the first of which sold out in double-quick time, and a second which is surely close to sold out by the time PJ takes to the stage. And it’s quite the entrance too: a spooky funeral march with military drummers arrive on stage first, followed by a brass section holding their instruments almost like urns, and which includes PJ Harvey with a saxophone. After all ten assume their positions on stage, PJ marches forward from the brass section and opens the set in spooky fashion with Chain Of Keys, dropping back to her brass section during the outro. The Ministry Of Defence begins with a sleigh bell intro, before PJ’s ghostly vocals compete with the stop-start drum beats, and PJ wins. It’s fairly incredible how such a petite frame can reach some serious notes! The song ends spectacularly as one of the guys in the Brass section plays two saxophones simultaneously, before leading into The Community Of Hope and a pickup in the pace after the spooky start, culminating in an anthemic “they’re gonna put a Wal-Mart here!!!”
The Orange Monkey and A Line In The Sand return the show to the spooky vibe it started out with, and then the rumbling xylophone beats of Let England Shake sees PJ patrol the stage menacingly amid a backdrop of violins. The Words That Maketh Murder and the Glorious Land keeps things up-tempo briefly, until the spookiness returns in the form of Medicinals, When Under Ether, Dollar Dollar, and The Devil; yes, I’m beginning to lose count of the number of times I write “spooky” too. Current single The Wheel draws huge cheers from the crowd, with PJ again dropping back to her brass section for the outro, and after The Ministry Of Social Affairs dazzles with an insane saxophone solo, the rockiest moment of the night arrives in the form of 50ft Queenie from the epic 1993 record Rid Of Me, with its unmistakable grungy intro bringing the room to life. Bodies pogo, arms sway, and fists pump across Metropolis.
After Down By The Water, PJ finally addresses the crowd for the first time tonight with a simple “merci beaucoup,” before introducing her 9-piece band; special cheers are reserved for one with a French name!
To Bring You My Love follows, and midway through the brass outro, the mics die across the stage, bringing an instant veil of silence over the crowd so that the various voices across the stage can still be heard unamplified. Even the drunk women who just barged their way to the front yelling random “we love you PJJJJJJ!!!!” comments quieten down! What started as a technical difficulty ends up sounding pretty spectacular. The PA issues are still not resolved by the time the main set closes with River Anacostia, but again, it sounds stellar in this stripped-down form. As the song draws to a close, band members leave their stations and line up along the front of the stage, two to a (dead) mic and softly sing the “wade in the water” outro over two soft drums as the song fades out. Brilliant stuff.
PJ and band return to the stage for an encore, and PJ jokingly acknowledges the technical glitches: “the PA may stop working, but we’re gonna try anyway. Cheers!” No more sound issues are encountered as she tears through a stomping cover of Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and a rousing The Last Living Rose. The band finally leave the stage for good after 90 minutes or so. Possibly a little on the short side given the back catalog at her disposal, but an epic return nonetheless. Oh, and please try not to leave it 22 years next time, PJ??
Setlist:
01. Chain Of Keys
02. The Ministry Of defence
03. The Community Of Hope
04. The Orange Monkey
05. A Line In The Sand
06. Let England Shake
07. The Words That Maketh Murder
08. The Glorious Land
09. Medicinals
10. When Under ether
11. Dollar, Dollar
12. The Devil
13. The Wheel
14. The Ministry Of Social Affairs
15. 50ft Queenie
16. Down By The Water
17. To Bring You My Love
18. River Anacostia
19. Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan cover)
20. The Last Living Rose
Review – Simon Williams
Photos – Kieron Yates
