Thursday, December 14, 2000
The Cotton Club
Atlanta, Georgia
Oh my GAWD! The PJ show was just amazing! We were soooo close to her during the entire set...about 20 feet. She even smiled and winked at us a couple of times. I feel truly blessed.
This was much more of a straight-on rock show than I've seen her deliver before. During the "To Bring You My Love" tour, she was deliriously theatrical and over-the-top. Polly Jean seemed to really be exploring her stage presence. Then, during the "Is This Desire" tour, she seemed to sway in the opposite direction. It was just her and a small group of musicians standing in a line at the edge of the stage, performing some of her most daringly artistic and challenging songs to date. This time around she found a happy medium, blasting the devoted audience with a blazing rock god performance stripped of the artifice of the "Bring" tour. The choice to play smaller clubs on this tour was a stroke of brilliance. Polly Jean expressed a comfort and a confidence heretofore unseen in her live shows.
The opening number, "Is This Love", set the tone for the evening. PJ took the stage with force and belted the number out as if her life depended on it. Much is made of PJ as a gifted songwriter. However, it should be noted that she is a truly gifted vocalist. I'd be hard-pressed to find any performer today who can match her ability to put over such brazen lust and tender vulnerability.
If there was any lingering doubt that the new album is a classic, this show certainly erased it. Performing nearly all of the tracks from "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea", PJ was in danger of alienating fans of her earlier work. However, the audience screamed just as loud for her volatile delivery of the new "Kamikaze" as they did for the classic "Sheela Na Gig".
It's hard in a performance like this to pick out highlights, but PJ's upbeat delivery of "Good Fortune" certainly stands out. I don't care how much she denies any influence by Patti Smith, I don't see how you can hear this song and not feel Patti bumping around in there.
"A Place Called Home" added to the softer side of PJ segment of the set. I think every audience member was holding there breath as PJ sang, "One-day-I-know-there'll-be-a-place-called-home."
The goosebump factor was never so high, though, as when "You Said Something" took on an unexpected vitality in live performance. Gorgeously wrought and heartfelt, this was the showstopper for me.
Of the fan favorites, the most effective had to be "Man Size". I never imagined that I'd see a sing-along chorus at a PJ Harvey show. But sure enough, the audience nearly drowned out Polly Jean during the final, "douse her with gasoline, set it light and set it free."
On the other hand, my only criticism would be that I found "Down By The Water" to be uninspired and out-of-place in the context of the evening. This was the only point where PJ didn't convince me that she was "in" the song. Perhaps, she felt obligated to give the audience the biggest hit of one of her most acclaimed recordings, "To Bring You My Love". However, I think that "Long Snake Moan" or even "C'mon Billy" would have fit in better with the rest of the set.
It was a treat hearing the rare non-album track, "Somebody's Down, Somebody's Name" during the encore. And, Polly Jean gets big credibility points for daring to end the evening with a downbeat, but beautifully rendered new song. It was as if to say, "Don't pigeonhole me or think you know what to expect from me." I've learned that the only thing I can expect from PJ Harvey is to be awed by the brilliance of a true musical genius.
