PJ Harvey Live at Warsaw Torwar 12th October 2016

Some pictures from my mid-week excursion to see PJ Harvey at Warsaw Torwar last night.

'Down By The Water' has always been a beautiful tune, and so it was last night.  Was introduced to PJ Harvey's music through this song in the mid-1990s.  Can remember the late great John Peel being a big fan of PJ Harvey.

But 'River Anacostia' from the recent 'The Hope Six Demolition Project' is now a serious challenger for my favourite PJ Harvey tune (especially after seeing it done live last night, it has that magical, transcendental-type quality).

Was nice to see PJ Harvey playing with such a big band on stage (the only other time I've seen her live was at Warsaw Sała Kongresowa about eight years ago when she was performing alone on stage).

Hardy's Wessex: Dorchester Community Church

Had a nice Hardy-related experience at the Dorchester community church above.

Was passing this place with a big rucksack on my back and a kind old lady invited me inside for a drink.  So we got talking and it happened that the old lady's mother had known and really liked Thomas Hardy.
Moreover, her mother had believed that Hardy had never fully lost his Christian faith, despite his well-known agnosticism; criticism of established Christianity (e.g. in 'Jude the Obscure'); and the mystical-type elevation of paganism in some of his novels, especially 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.

Thus, what the old lady said kind of fitted in with my own view of Hardy having been a strong agnostic in this thinking, while retaining some kind of fond, semi-conscious or subconscious attachment to Anglicanism (especially in a rural setting as at Stinsford or Puddletown parish churches).

Hardy's Wessex: Tess' Stonehenge Resting-Place

While visiting Salisbury, I suddenly got the urge to jump on the bus and visit Stonehenge to try and see the stone that Tess probably slept on towards the end of Thomas Hardy's 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.

Off instinct and rational guesswork, I took it to be the horizontal, bed-type stone in the middle of the stone circle above, and in the bottom right of the picture below:

Have just read from other accounts on the internet that the bed-shaped stone above is likely to be the stone that Tess rested on before being arrested there at dawn.
 

Of course, Stonehenge is a fitting spiritual resting place for Tess before her later execution at Winchester jail for her murder of Alec Durbyfield, as she symbolises a high pagan priestess in the middle of the stones:

 Of course, this high pagan image of Tess starts at the beginning of the novel when she is seen participating in the fertility dance:

Moreover, it is also at Stonehenge where Angel Clare stresses to Tess that the place, with all its pagan significance, easily pre-dates Christian time and meaning, symbolising something more dynamically and vibrantly human.  Of course, Tess lying on the central bed-stone in the stone circle, which lies on top of an ancient burial chamber, symbolises Tess' upcoming death/execution.

Just read that Thomas Hardy was fascinated by the ghost-type sounds that can be made through the wind passing through the gaps in the stone circle.  But it was difficult to focus on this auditory sense at due to the sheer force of numbers of (mainly foreign) visitors near the stone circle:

Kerry: Going over Conor Pass

Here we are setting off towards going over Conor Pass from Cloghane to Dingle:

In 2011, we'd gone over Conor Pass in a car, and at times, when in view of the drop, it'd been literally spine-chilling:

Fortunately, walking over Conor Pass, we felt more in control of things.  Plus, as it was a bright, clear day, we were able to get some stunning views of the small 'lakes' below:

Bury (Lancashire): Stunning Ainsworth Churches

While passing through Ainsworth on my way to Affetside, I first passed this stunning Anglican church.  The church was open with youngish people coming out so I guessed there must've been a baptism, or maybe they were just regular churchgoers.

And a little further down the road, still in Ainsworth, I encountered this equally stunning Methodist church: 

This church building looked more impressive from a distance:

Then somewhere between Ainsworth and Affetside, down a lane somewhere, I came across this old, cottage-type Congregational church:

Was nice to see these old churches still running (not sure about the one above, though) in what I'd call a more rural area of Bury, in contrast to the growing number that have closed down in more urban areas of Bury.

Polica Live at Warsaw Proxima 7th October 2016

Went to watch Polica at Warsaw Proxima the other night out of good old-fashioned curiosity, and for a few different reasons, thoroughly enjoyed this gig.

First, I find Polica subtle and sensitive while also having an underlying intensity, and all this seemed magnified live.

Recognised more or less half of the set, some of the tunes even by name (e.g. the encore 'Amongster').

Found the bass player, Chris Bierden, amazing:

And the light and subtle, yet in its own way strong stage presence of Channy Leaneagh amazing too:

And the positive sociological dimension to this gig: as a 50-year-old, it was just really nice to be at a gig with a couple of hundred sweet and civilised young people (almost entirely a lot younger than me).  Yeah, this was the magic of this gig: genuinely sweet and sensitive music, with a pulsating rhythm section, in perfect harmony with a sweet and sensitive audience.

Yeah, a profound, subtle beauty is what stood out about the Polica gig the other night.

Angel Witch: Sheffield Shot

Couple of my old concert-going colleagues, Lee and Wodge, sent me this shot of Angel Witch frontman and mainstay Kevin Heybourne from a gig in Sheffield from last Saturday.

Have sadly never seen Angel Witch live, but can still remember hearing 'Angel of Death' and other tunes on a Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show session and, then shortly after, buying their legendary first album, all thirty-odd years ago now (how time flies).

The great tunes from the debut Angel Witch album ('Angel Witch'; 'Atlantis'; 'Free Man'; 'Sorceress'; 'Angel of Death' etc.) still sound fresh.