PJ Harvey delivers two mystical sets at The Met Philly

Long considered the unluckiest day of the year for reasons unknown, Friday the 13th arrived last weekend. And the superstitious in Philadelphia, stuck at home evading black alley cats and other outside threats, missed quite the show at The Met that night. For the first time in seven years, PJ Harvey performed in Philadelphia, this time on tour for 2023’s I Inside the Old Year Dying. 

Resembling the best conceptual play you never saw, PJ Harvey and her band opened the evening with a front-to-back performance of the new record. The near-mythological artist was hypnotic, enchanting The Met with her higher vocal range and eccentric, abstract lyrics, both statements of her latest work. She danced methodically yet fluidly, taking measured steps followed by an abrupt pause, then sank to the ground; all her moves were poses. From the high mezzanine where I sat, she appeared as a grounded, glowing fairy, sweeping across the stage, so fiercely in command but acting with zero aggression. 

Harvey and band appropriately ended the first half of the evening with I Inside’s clamoring closer, “A Noiseless Noise,” then switched gears entirely with the sing-songy “The Colour of the Earth” from 2011’s Mercury Prize-winning Let England Shake (2011). The back half of the set is where she let loose some hits. Fans were on their feet for “Angelene,” “Dress,” and “To Bring You My Love,” but got weak in the knees for tender moments like in “The Desperate Kingdom of Love.” 

Though most fans looked like they’d been with PJ for years, I was proud of the newcomers (myself included) I brought to the show, who for the most part, were floored. If woodsy, Celtic-folk PJ Harvey is not your speed, admittedly you would’ve struggled through the first half of the set, but punk and desert metal-lite PJ were there for you in the end. Through her many moods, she’s singularly PJ Harvey, the greatest performance artist in rock music. And last Friday the 13th, a date you could choose to recognize for its celestial or feminine energy rather than misfortune, was the perfect night for her to pass through Philadelphia.