I found out PJ was going to be doing a in studio taping for a live Yahoo broadcast. I was unable to get tickets to her gig at the Orpheum the night before because it sold out quickly. From what i heard, PJ was only going to be doing 2 U.S. dates in support of White Chalk with no plans to tour further. I was lucky enough to find out about the show and was quickly notified that i had got in. The next night, i was emailed back saying that i could bring 3 friends in addition to myself to the taping. I was assuming that not many people has signed up for the show. Of course i get to the taping late and i was lucky enough to still be able to get in. I asked the check in guy how many people were already there and he said 273. Surprisingly, it was a small crowd in a pretty big studio. The seating was odd in that there were high chairs behind the stage alone with rows of fold able chairs in the front of the stage and stadium style benches in several corners.

As im walking to the studio entrance, i see PJ in her white chalk get up and as i walk towards her, a journalist looking woman goes to talk to her. Out of luck, i walk into the studio to see the Producer instructing people to look into the cameras and start clapping. I was happy i missed it because he was really anal about where people were looking etc. I was directed toward the back of the stage but one of the crew members points to a chair in the front row off to the side of the stage. It had a perfect view of PJ whenever she was on piano and i also got a great profile view of PJ when she would take the front of the stage (Sweet!). I was hoping she would play a bunch of songs but it was a short set:

Set List:

White Chalk
Grow Grow Grow
Nina In Ecstacy
Down By The Water
The Mountain
Silence
piano
To Bring You My Love

I loved the white chalk record but was hoping for a song of “Stories From the City Stories From the Sea” . Overall, the perfomance was weird because the producer would have the audience clap a few times after PJ Sang and there were a bunch of long pauses. Seeing PJ so close and solo nonetheless was rare so i enjoyed it a lot. The entire taping lasted and hour.

after she was done with performing songs a few 5 or so people were selected
to ask pj harvey questions.

Someone asked how she got into the [auto harp] She said she was about 4 when she first discovered it but she didn’t buy one until 95 in london, she bought it because it was “old and beautiful” as she described it. She said that when she was at the Notting Hill Gate Market, she saw it in a stall and standing right next to her was a man that looked familiar. he said, Polly Harvey? and she said Brian Eno!

There was a question about why she decided to use so much piano on the record and she said that she didn’t know how to play piano before and had one sitting around so she decided to write with it.

Another question was about how she goes in different musical directions with each record and how her collaborations had influenced her. she said that she didn’t want to do something that she had done before and this is where the experimenting comes in. She mentioned the desert sessions as a very different method with how she worked and how Thom inspired her to use her voice very differently. Then said that nina in exctasy wasn’t a great song when she wrote it but as time passed, she grew to love it.