Notes on PJ Harvey: Cathedral Theater, Masonic Temple, Detroit, MI, 9-28-24

Polly Jean Harvey strides onstage at 8pm, precisely – security advised us of this as they scanned our tickets – and begins the night the same way she has all tour, with the full performance of I Inside The Old Year Dying. Harvey controls every element, every note, every move onstage and I am not pointing that fact out as bad or as a negative, the artist is engineering an experience, this is how she wants these songs presented. It is not the kind of thing I am usually drawn to but even within spontaneity there is control or at least direction. It is not just setting things loose and hoping for the best (and even when someone makes that choice there is action in the decision, it is a form of boundary). 

The show is broken into two halves, the first featuring the full performance of the record end to end and then a second act with a selection of material from across the decades. The first act is an exquisite, elaborate, precise execution that is even richer and more broad than the record because she is a fucking genius – yes, we are using that word for her – and knows how to pick the musicians she works with and what on record is deep and multilayered becomes a living, breathing organism onstage. If you read about her concepts behind the record, it is absolutely the logical follow-through, a record based on native dialect and landscapes and ancient folk tales, it had to become an entity in order to be successful live. So while there is absolute precision this band absolutely breathes. It is alive. 

She doesn’t lead a band in the way I am usually writing about bandleaders but she absolutely leads this band, the control is phenomenal. In the back half, everything has been slightly adjusted for this time and this band, it’s how she can still give us “Man-Sized” and cause the two 20-somethings sitting 8th row center to jump up and dance, hugging each other in delight and glee. I didn’t take notes although I’d planned to, it was too dark and nobody was using their phone, there were no dudes in the fifth row holding their phone up all night recording the whole show. People peeked up to take a quick shot or two and then put the phones away, so I was not going to be that person taking notes on a light up box and risk impacting the experience of someone in my vicinity. This is why I am not giving you more specific examples, friends. I am sorry, I was experiencing and was not necessarily going to write about it once I realized I was not going to be taking notes. Then I came home and found myself writing a lengthy Instagram post, checked myself, and here we are.

This is a spoiler: when you arrive at the venue, the stage is open and there is smoke and ambient sounds at a low volume, the same kind of soundtracks you hear between songs on the record. As the clock hands move closer to 8pm the sounds have been gently increasing in volume and the smoke clouds have also grown and then the musicians walk out one by one. The show begins. It is quite beautiful and perfectly suited to bringing the audience into the record -- except there was A Man behind me who had to explain to his companion what was going to happen so I didn’t get a chance to just experience it (and neither did she). “There she is,” he announced, as Polly Jean swept into center stage, wearing a white floor-length satin (I think?) cloak decorated with what looked like tree branches. I mean, we are at a PJ Harvey concert, who else could it be. But any disappointment at not being able to experience the entrance got lost in what followed. You had to be with her, you had to pay attention. I don’t understand the people who kept getting up for beer – there weren’t that many but no one else was doing it so it really stood out. It’s not like you just missed a song or two, it would have shattered the vibe. 

In the initial press for the record, Harvey talked about how she was careful to not use what she called her “PJ Harvey voice.” This was something in the press release so it was an element she felt was important to mention and wasn’t something foisted upon her by a journalist, but it perplexed me then and was something I thought about while watching this show. Not only has Harvey managed to preserve her instrument across the decades, it has demonstrably gotten better, it is full and rich and delivered with a deliberate and particular power. 

Also, the mix was phenomenal. I wear earplugs for pretty much every concert I go to but I cautiously removed them during the second song because it felt like it would be okay and it was. I applaud her soundpeople for that, but also the room. Masonic has multiple theaters and this is the one you want to see someone in, high vaulted ceiling and gorgeous acoustics. Given that every other time I have seen her has been in some kind of warehouse pretending to be a rock club, it was a blessing. But the sound balance was fantastic. It felt like she took advantage of the room in moments where she could move just slightly back from the mic so the room heard her actual unamplified voice as well as the amplified version. Or at the end of “Autumn Gate” where the screams that are muted way under the melody were right up front. There were so many of those adjustments, small ones, elements that would work in the studio or on headphones but would get lost live. There was never a moment where I thought, That didn’t work. 

The bridge between the two sets is PJ walking offstage and the band coming up to the front for “The Color of the Earth” before she returns in a tiered, floor-length gown (that might have been under the cloak) for the second act. It too has not varied greatly but there’s something here for everyone, whether a solo acoustic “Desperate Kingdom of Love” or a heart-stopping, deeply felt “To Bring You My Love” at the end of the set. You also get “Down by the Water” (which has somehow still not gotten tired) or “The Words That Maketh Murder” or “Send His Love to Me” -- I’d looked at the set (it’s easier for my brain to pay attention if I have some idea of what’s coming) and you don’t get the full impact of this run of songs on paper. It felt like it was going to go on forever.

And then the encore! “C’mon Billy” and “White Chalk,” robust and emotive and theatrical and evocative, you were absolutely inside the story with her. But we were with her all night. There were some adorably rowdy folks up in the balcony but this was an audience that was here for her and with her and some of that we walked in with but the rest of it was all her. Her artistry and skill is unmatchable. If you can see her in a proper venue, opt for that, but see her no matter what. That applies for this tour but honestly, it will apply pretty much for as long as PJ Harvey wants to engage with this art form.