PJ Harvey in Breath-taking Form at Manchester Albert Hall [Show Review]

Clocking in at just over 30 years in the business, and exploring a vast array of genres along the way, it feels like PJ Harvey has come of age (again) with her latest offering, I Inside The Old Year Dying.

The album, very much a concept album, deals with themes of the life-cycle from birth to death, and embraces British folk, even veering towards folk horror in its darker moments. The lyrics are culled from her 2022 Epic poem, “Orlam”, from which the deep usage of Dorset dialogue lends itself even further into the realms of cinematic imagery, recalling the feel of the Cornish films of Mark Jenkin (Bait, Enys Men).

Her current tour is a game of two halves, delivering the album in its entirety before embarking on a finely curated skim through highlights of her lengthy back-catalogue. In some respects, it must be this way. The album certainly works so much better as a whole body of work and mixing selected tracks with old favourites would not do justice to the epic nature of the piece.

Manchester’s Albert Hall, on this her second show of a two-night residency, provides a perfect backdrop for the theatre that unfolds. An ambient hum has been slowly building for some time now, resonating in the columns and stained-glass windows of the cavernous former Methodist Hall. The lights dim and the atmosphere builds. The four-piece band take their places amongst strategically placed church furniture and finally Harvey finds a central spot, bathed in a golden spotlight that seems to reach forever from the dizzyingly high ceiling. High drama indeed.

Album opener “Prayer at the Gate” is performed with a level of intimacy that feels impossible in such lofty surroundings. Carefully choreographed, Harvey plays the character from ‘Orlam’ in many stages and strikes a whole spectrum of poses and stances. Seemingly guarding her eyes from the bright spotlight, which illuminates her off-white dress, there are times when it could almost be Kate Bush before us. Vocally she is also on a par with Bush and the album, on more than a few occasions shares echoes of “The Dreaming” and the equally epic “Ninth Wave Suite” from the Hounds of Love album.

The album continues to play out, the songs in order so as not to distract from the narrative. The subtle sound effects from the record are given more prominence here and the air is filled between songs with children playing and birds singing. The atmosphere this creates is beautiful and a million miles from the angsty rock shows that kick started her career.

Harvey looks incredible, her face never once veers from the powerful character of the nine-year-old Ira Abel that she is portraying. Middle age has softened her face and the childlike manner comes across naturally, full of awe and wonder.

The songs are delivered with precision, reflecting the excellent production values of the album and her band, including long time collaborator, John Parish are fantastic. Holding onto a tight rustic rhythm that never lets slip, this all adds to the folk narrative of the set. The drumming of Jean-Marc Butty in particular, drifts in and out spectrally, creating a lost in the woods feel that remains suitably mysterious throughout.

Excursions take place, particularly in songs like “Lwonesome Tonight”, where Harvey’s vocals sound uncannily like Beth Gibbons and the guitar patterns come straight from a Mississippi Bayou. The title track could easily be a lost Radiohead cut and “A Child’s Question – July” (guest vocals by Ben Wishaw on the album) is pure Wicker Man. For a piece with such sharp focus, there are many avenues and streams that the music follows, this is no one trick pony.

“Harvey looks incredible, her face never once veers from the powerful character of the nine-year-old Ira Abel that she is portraying.”

The first half is possibly one of the most perfect song cycles I have seen performed live. The audience completely under Harvey’s spell and hanging onto every word, note and action.

A break takes the form of the band members (Sans Harvey) taking front stage to perform a standing version of “The Colour of The Earth” from 2011’s Let England Shake album. It’s a rattling, rumbling version, full of ancient blood, lacking the softer melodies of the album version and foretelling the nature of what is to come in the second half.

Harvey returns and launches into “The Glorious Land” and “The Words that Maketh Murder”, both also from Let England Shake, and the folk themes of the first act remain. At moments the set becomes darker and there are also glimmers of hope, much like the gigs of her great collaborator Nick Cave, and this is no less dramatic.

1998’s Is This Desire? album is represented with spellbinding, era-defining renditions of “Angeline” and “The Garden”. The latter is followed by the welcome surprise of a very special guest tonight, local boy done good, Johnny Marr. Providing shimmering guitars for 2004’s “The Desperate Kingdom of Love”, Marr is always a welcome presence, and his style fits the song perfectly.

As the set draws to a close, the mood becomes heavier and songs are drawn from her much celebrated earlier albums, Dry (“Dress”), Rid of Me (“Mansize”) and the Southern gothic masterpiece, To Bring You my Love (“Send His Love To Me”, “Down By The Water” and “To Bring You My Love”), all of which are delivered with powerhouse force while still retaining the folksiness of the night. “Down By The Water”, with its “Big Fish, Little Fish” taunt is possibly the highlight of the second half, bathed in blue light with deafening clacks of the PJ’s wooden blocks, this is mystical and beautiful.

Johnny Marr returns for a majestic encore of the absolute rocking “C’mon Billy”. You can truly hear phrases from his Smiths work in this and the closer “White Chalk” from 2007 brings the tone full circle with its mesmeric folky swirls.

An excellent show that has urged me to dig deep into PJ Harvey’s archive to discover the bits that I have missed over the years and to repeatedly play the hypnotic new album which somehow manages to not just create ear-worms but nestle tightly under the skin.

There is torrential rain, drenching the bootleg T Shirts on the pavement outside, but the effect of the incredible gig we have just witnessed acts as a virtual umbrella, everyone is soaking, but nobody seems to care.

PJ Harvey’s tenth album, I Inside The Old Year Dying, is available now from her Official Website.