English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey — backed by a 10-piece band and touring for last year’s Hope Six Demolition Project — brought political blues and punk songs to life before a sold-out crowd Friday at The Fillmore in Philadelphia.
Beginning with a marching processional, drummer Jean-Marc Butty led the remaining members on stage to the beat of a snare drum. The group then launched into Hope Six‘s dirge-like “Chain of Keys,” with Harvey joining her fellow horn players on saxophone before taking the mic. Her attire — she stood regal in black boots, gloves, a cloak and a crown of feathers — was fitting for an artist whose songs feel like harbingers of the apocalypse.
The blistering and incisive Hope Six filled out most of the setlist, accompanied by a selection of songs from 2011’s anti-war polemic Let England Shake. Inspired by research and visits to Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington, D.C., Hope Six chronicles the destruction left in the wake of war with unflinching clarity, mixing her irresistible melodies with macabre detail.
The arrangements featured diverse combinations of multiple drummers, saxophones, strings and hand percussion, and it was impressive to see her band cycle through instruments with ease. The ensemble gave heft to many of their songs — the thundering “The Ministry of Defence” and “Chain of Keys” were anchored by horn blasts and multiple guitars.
But more delicate moments buckled beneath the weight of their sound and nearly swallowed Harvey’s voice. The delicate piano ballad “The Devil” was ersatz and clumsy, and the somber “When Under Ether” was similarly underwhelming. Although her Hope Six selections were eagerly received, a trio of classics from her mid-’90s run were the show’s most thrilling moments. Toward the end of the set, Harvey ripped into the scorching “50ft Queenie” from 1993’s Rid of Me, adding a burst of adrenaline that felt like a salve for the baroque Hope Six selections.
That was followed with the eerie murder ballad “Down by the Water” and “To Bring You My Love,” two smoldering epics that showcased Harvey’s fiery punk origins. On “To Bring You My Love,” Harvey summoned a lower register, building tension until she broke out in a full-bodied wail for the song’s climax. For the encore, the band returned for two rarities: Rid of Me‘s cover of Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited,” and the serene “The Last Living Rose.”
It was a perfect ending — Harvey carried her Dylan cover with panache and brilliant tension. In that moment, you could almost believe she wrote it herself.
