PJ Harvey returns to old tricks alongside old friend John Parish in Chicago

June 12, 2009, at the Riviera

By Selena Fragassi
Published: June 14th, 2009 | 11:25pm

PJ Harvey once said that she prefers performing to writing and recording because sharing it with an audience is when the “music makes more sense.” On her recent tour stop in Chicago, accompanied by former producer cum collaborator, John Parish, every song in the duo’s 75-minute set made more than sense — each became one of those instantaneous light bulb moments radiating a halo of perfection over the iconic singer who, try as she might to be modest with polite bows and “thank you’s,” left the fedora-wearing men on stage in the corners of her shadow.

Dressed in a peasant-style black dress that she often twirled and tossed with her skinny fingers, Harvey looked like a modern-day Snow White with her fair skin, dark hair, and red, red lips. But in a show that was filled with cascading theatrics in both characterization and dramatic lighting, Harvey moved beyond the damsel in distress to a ballsy heroine, screaming, “I want his fucking ass!” in one of the night’s highlights, “A Woman a Man Walked By.” The title track from Harvey and Parish’s latest release on Island’s imprint imbues Harvey’s knack for relaying stories about societal misfits (this time about a gender-bending stranger) with cruel mocking and jeering taunts, as she cackled like the Wicked Witch from across the pond.

In another song, “Taut,” Harvey asked, “Can I tell you a story? It’s about me and Billy.” As she rose from the floor of the stage in a mock resurrection to the creepy intro vocals of “Jesus, save me,” Harvey quickly morphed into a maniacal narrator with the crashing of drums and bass behind her in a noir, Lynchian scene that ended too abruptly to process it fully.

Although it was difficult to attribute any misses in Harvey/Parish’s performance, the obvious hits were the songs that favored her moody, unabashed style, as compared to Parish’s toned down rockabilly crux. Moments like “Pig Will Not,” where Harvey literally had to take a step back to lunge forward and growl, “I will not!” were much more effective than seeing her meekly play the maracas on “Civil War Correspondent,” or sing at the top of her register in the awkward ukulele number, “Soldier.”

The set was a good range of material from both A Woman A Man Walked By and Dance Hall At Louise Point (that preceded by some 16 years), with one Parish original, “False Fire,” mixed into the encore. The night was capped by a deft version of “April” that illuminated Harvey as the original Karen O, sounding just like the latest cover girl as Harvey cupped her hands around the microphone. With blue orbs anchored on the screen behind her, organ-layered music filled the air as Harvey’s vocals reached a near hallelujah moment as she belted out the lyrics, “I dreamed.” It was examples like these that showed the iconic meaning Harvey finds in her performances — only able to reach epiphany heights from a convincing prophet such as herself.

For more photos from this show visit Venus Zine’s Flickr page

PJ Harvey MySpace page

John Parish MySpace page

Island Records