Can I Tell You A Story?

I can't believe how fortunate I am to have seen my all time favorite artist perform on the night of my birthday. It's very surreal. Every time I see PJ Harvey in concert it's something new, something different, even if I'm hearing the same material. She has a unique gift to make the same song feel & look completely different given what mood she wants to convey to the audience. I've been listening quite a lot to her latest album, a second album she's collaborated with John Parish. Parish, who wrote all the music & PJ, who provided all the lyrics are especially talented people who have created yet another fantastic album. I highly suggest you check it out. I suppose however that one should keep an open mind b/c although the music could be appreciated by many people, I'm not sure that the average person would really get PJ Harvey's lyrics or vocal choices. If you're interested in something different & something that doesn't conform to the norm, than this album is definitely for you.





So back to the concert. I will spend absurd amounts of money to see her, which is I'm sure far less money than other people have spent for much bigger acts. I was able to get pit tickets & although I wasn't able to get to the very front, I was just a few people behind the front & had a pretty great view. I really love taking photographs & videos at shows (yes I'm the annoying girl holding up my camera every 2 seconds...) but I really try to take in the show & enjoy it as much as possible. Rarely do I ever tape a full song. Photography is a hobby of mine & so even though I have just a digital point & shoot, I really make the effort to try to take some lovely photos when possible. On this particular night however I wasn't really thinking & my memory card had gotten full up of course exactly at the point where I wanted to film the tail end of a lovely song (Cracks In The Canvas), where Polly sings the lyrics "Polly, go to sleep... You have no one to wait for...", which on the album are sung underneath other lyrics of the song. So, hearing it live is really beautiful & the only chance to clearly hear that part of the song.





I saw Parish & Harvey perform just this past March & this time around the energy was much more mellow but also this sort of dreamy, emotional performance. At one point during "The Crows Knows Where All The Little Children Go" Polly is twirling around stage - twirling & twirling & twirling & then running off stage & looping back around again. I kind of imagine this alternate world where one lives in one's own head, a live daydream, expressing the joys of childhood & freedom & love of music all rolled up into one twirl. A few times while recording parts of songs, I found myself losing my frame b/c she's so close to where I'm standing that I can't possibly pay attention to my silly camera b/c I am mesmerized that she is directly in front of me. They certainly commanded a lot of applause, soaking all that clapping in & enjoying every minute of it multiple times throughout the show & the excessive noise the audience made demanding an encore, even though encores have become somewhat standard these days, this time around an encore was well deserved. I fully enjoyed the show & hope that it won't be too long before I get to see Miss Polly Jean again.





Here are a couple snippets of songs I recorded. The first one, the entire theater was pitch black except for a couple strobe light effects as they started the song. Talk about setting the mood! Enjoy!


"Taut"



"A Woman A Man Walked By"



Dance Hall At Louse Point - John Parish & Polly Jean Harvey
A Woman A Man Walked By - PJ Harvey & John Parish