Perhaps it’s something about PJ Harvey’s crowds. Every time I have been to see the Dorset songstress play, the support act has been largely ignored and rudely talked over. The fact that tonight I have specifically come to see North Dakota singer songwriter Tom Brosseau makes this doubly annoying.
Blinking into the lights, Brosseau acknowledges the fact that his is a thankless task, with a declaration of hope that he doesn’t bore anyone in the half empty hall. Performing solo, Brosseau’s delicately picked guitar rings brightly as he airs material from forthcoming album Posthumous Success. Stripped of the shuffling drums and extra guitar parts the songs reveal a simple beauty, and make Brosseau’s guitar work and frequently witty lyrics stand for itself, his gentle, occasionally nasal voice calling to mind the earlier works of Turin Brakes.
The biggest cheer of the night comes as the softly spoken American introduces new album opener (and closer) ‘Favourite Colour Blue’, a charming fingerpicked ditty about, er, a recurring dream about having to rescue Dave Grohl from drumming in Hole. While this raises some cheers from the crowd, by the third or fourth song the double denim wearing troubadour starts loosing his battle against the chatter of the slowly filling room. On other nights, in other venues, Brosseau has the ability to silence even the most unwilling of audiences, but tonight’s show is slightly too big for his delicate and fragile love songs to weave their spell, his clever wordplay lost on a largely ambivalent audience. Twenty minutes after first stepping on stage he departs from whence he came.
Quite why it then takes a further 40 minutes for Harvey, Parish and their finely be-hatted cohorts to take their stage is inexplicable. Skipping on stage theatrically, Ms Harvey thanks the audience for their patience before launching into the evenings main event. Drawing solely from Harvey and Parish’s two collaborative albums, the show is somewhat of a let down, devoid of the fire and heart that Harvey has previously been known for. In it’s place is a set full of droning dirges with quasi mystical spoken word pieces added. Elsewhere, there is sub-Sonic Youth jangle and proto-Mary Chain-isms. For all Harvey’s theatrical shimmying there is something clearly missing in tonight’s performance- at times Parish and the other members of her band seem bored. Even the notorious title track of ‘A Woman a Man Walked By’ fails to deliver, the snarled threat of ‘I want your Fucking Ass’ falling flat against the lumpen, muted backing that never delivers on it’s threat to explode into life.
As I join many others making an early exit from the show, Harvey intones the lyrics to ‘Passionless, Pointless’. Sadly, it sums up the show rather well.
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I am at Shepherds Bush on Monday, I love PJ too much to miss this.
I was quite excited reading the 5 stars Alexis Petridis’ review on Guardian yesterday of this same gig, so now I have put down by this and will judge myself.
let you know.
not to say that it might be influenced- but did you see who was guest editing Guardian.co.uk/music? PJ Harvey and John Parish…
Everyone I have spoken to since the show came out at about the same. Which is a shame, because I have seen PJ Harvey be wonderful. Just not that night
It sounds as though you went in not wanting to like PJ Harvey & Parish, and subsequently saw a totally different show to the one they played in Bristol on Saturday, which was nothing short of incendiary.
how does it sound like i went in not wanting to like it? I went in wanting it to be really good. Having seen her repeatedly I certainly wouldn’t put it down as one of the better shows I have seen. Although perhaps the fact that I had seen David Byrne the night before probably didnt work in her favour.
we have a review from the bristol show that snapes wrote going live later this week. it sounds like a totally contrasting show for sure. I STILL NEED TO HEAR THE NEW RECORD!!!
well, i was supposed to be writing about TOm B anyway, which is why the review is more about him.
But i think that they were having sound problems….which could have accounted for the rather grey sonic experience. I certainly wasn’t alone in my summing up of pj harvey- and as i said before, no one i have spoken to either at the show or afterwards said it was anything other than a let down. Sorry to slaughter any sacred cows….i just think that, this particular show, wasn’t up to pj’s standards.
i’m now slightly worried about what is going to happen when TLOBF run my review of the Leonard Cohen live in London DVD….
just call him a cunt in the style of tom whyman. it will be amazing.
Sorry but this is bugging me.- snapes… I did go to a different show than you went to on Saturday and surely it is possible for the shows to have been differing in quality. I believe Brighton was the first uk show, and there were definite sound issues re balance between vocals.
To say that I was determined not to like it is pointless, like if I said that after Reading the review on yr blog you went to the Bristol show determined to love it.
I can contribute something here. I attended the warm-up in Bridport and the first official show in Austin. Both were just fantastic, helped by excellent sound.
Last night’s show in London was less brilliant and I think they were bothered by the poor sound – perhaps in a similar way to what you describe in Brighton.
Having said that, Chris TT described the Brighton show as just as good as the Austin one.
Two more things:
The London crowd was silent and attentive for support Howe Gelb, indicting that Tom Brosseau might have been a bad choice of support.
And I swear not a single person left early – they would have had to be mad.
20-4 date in london was amazing…not only judging by my partial opinion but by the entire Shepherds Bush Empire going mad
Rich,
you have to listen and listen and relisten again to the new album before it gets in. But it is worth.
It’s great that you like Tom’s music – I can’t believe that he is still pretending he’s lives in North Dakota. I guess the warbling shtick is a little thick if you’re really from LA.