PJ Harvey has played to some massive crowds over the course of her Uh Huh Her tour, including massive festival dates across Europe, and huge arena shows to boot. At Sydney’s Enmore Theatre, Polly Jean and her band performed to one of the smallest crowds on this tour, and those lucky enough to score tickets were in for a treat.

While punters at the larger shows around the country witnessed Harvey put on an intense rock show, the smaller venue set the scene for an intimate performance, displaying a cross-section of her expansive and eclectic back catalogue.

With six albums, well-received by fans and critics alike, a ‘greatest hits’ set at a PJ Harvey concert is impossible. Fortunately, the selection of songs changes at every show, and while tonight’s 20-song set draws heavily from the new album, it delivers its fair share of crowd favourites.

Opening act Machine Translations seemed to be happy at landing the national support slot, and their smooth sounds at least caused the crowd to move from the foyer to the floor, however this was a PJ Harvey concert, and none of them was PJ Harvey, and the modest crowd reaction reflected this.

As Harvey finally hit the stage, attired in a white home-made dress, complimented by a small hand-crafted pouch strung over one shoulder to her side, it became clear that she wasn’t going to beat around the bush. Belting through early hits 50ft Queenie and Dress, she commanded the crowd’s attention like few performers, male or female could, and seemed to relish the relatively small venue, playing right at the crowd.

For the first 45 minutes, Harvey and her band barely touched Uh Huh Her, with the exception of current single Shame, which was given as warm a response as any from the crowd. Devoting more time to seasoned classics such as A Perfect Day Elise, Meet Ze Monsta and the eerie Taut, all four performers pushed the material to breaking point.

With a performer as dominant as Harvey, it would be easy to put on a show with session musicians, leaving all the limelight to the singer. Very rarely though, does Harvey do anything by the book. Guitarist and drummer Josh Klinghoffer seemed to be fighting his guitar in a struggle pushing both player and instrument from one side of the stage to the other. When behind the kit, Klinghoffer showed no mercy to his drums, and when drummer and keyboardist Rob Ellis - a longtime collaborator with Harvey – sat behind a second drum kit as the band performed Victory, the roof of the Enmore Theatre may well have been blown off.

Dingo, the character handling bass duties for most of the night, dominated the side of the stage to Harvey’s right, and just like Klinghoffer’s drums and guitar, Dingo’s bass guitar must have felt the pressure after such an intense showing. If Harvey is a 50ft Queenie, Dingo is a 100ft devil, with a hairstyle that wouldn’t be out of place in a 1970s punk band or a neo-Nazi group in Germany’s south.

As Harvey, Ellis, Dingo and Klinghoffer steered the set toward more recent material, the ongoing fight between musician and instrument climaxed. Midway through Uh Huh Her, the would-be title track of the album, Klinghoffer broke a string, and with no backup guitar, the band was forced to halt the set, and move onto another song while the guitar was restrung. The surprise break did the set a world of good – as PJ laughed and quietly apologised, the intensity of the performance dropped for a moment, and the goddess became human.

Launching into the furious Who the Fuck? Harvey again gathered pace, moving through Big Exit, from 2000’s Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, and into a second attempt at Uh Huh Her. As the band closed with recent hit The Letter, the crowd could have easily gone home satisfied, but with so many classics left untouched, and with the clock barely at 10.30, there was clearly more in store.

As the four figures re-emerged from the backstage area, Harvey smiled, then stepped up to the microphone and again thanked the crowd modestly, before playing the familiar opening notes of 1995 hit To Bring You My Love. As Polly shed her guitar for a show-stopping performance of The Garden, one could have heard a pin drop in the crowd. The subdued nature of the band was short-lived however, and closing with the ferocious Harder and an ear-popping rendition of Me-Jane, Harvey and her band capped off a memorable performance.