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PJ Harvery - more talent than I was expecting.

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My wife is a massive PJ Harvery fan, but I always found her squeaky, out of tune, unable to play and talentless. And to be fair, some of her songs on some of her albums do sound like that.

For one reason or another, we missed PJ Harvery at the Roundhouse in 2023, so despite never having been to Gunnersbury Park before, let alone for a gig, I was determined to get my wife to see her this time. The setup for gigs is actually quite good. It’s a relatively short walk from Acton Town and the accessibility entrance was easy to find and the process quick. There was an odd rule about only bringing bags which were A4 sized or smaller. How anyone would get the clothes for all weathers, it was also suggested you should bring, into a bag that small, I don’t know. However there didn’t seem to be much enforcement and we got in with our slightly larger bag and saw plenty of larger ones while we were there.

One of the accessibility team who greeted us had a new Korn hoodie. They’d played the previous  weekend and the conversation which followed revealed that the last time I saw Korn was before she was born!

Almost before we knew it, we were into the arena and found the accessibility area. The arena didn’t feel that big, there was never much of a queue at any of the bars and only a short wait for the food vendors, which were reasonably varied. Of the course there was also the merchandise stands with the usual over priced tshirts and even a PJ Harvery tote bag - presumably for those people who didn’t have a suitable A4 sized bag!

We didn’t arrive in time for Tirzah. I’m not sure I saw the point of Shida Shahabi, but the singer had a great voice, although she’d have made a great extra in a Kevin and Perry episode.  Big Thief were surprisingly good with a rocky edge and some great guitar playing. Not sure what they needed two drummers for though.


The sun was down and we were sitting with a good view of the stage, when PJ Harvey came on. Imagine my surprise as, with every song, she demonstrated what a fantastic singing voice she has and what a skilled musician she is. While her band came across as a bit pretentious, especially the drummer, and with a dress sense Yes would have been proud of in the 70s, many of them were multiinstrumentalists and they all played brilliantly.

Twenty-one songs later we decided we should head for Acton Town as it was meant to get busy. It was a shame, because PJ Harvery played one of my wife’s favourites, White Chalk, as we were walking out and there turned out to be no queue for the tube at all and we walked straight on to a train.

I might be persuaded to see PJ Harvery again and I’ve certainly been investigating her back catalogue more closely.

 


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