The title of PJ Harvey's latest album is Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea.

However, the British singing-songwriting dynamo was definitely in urban mode last night at The Phoenix as she and her four-piece band, including Stories co-producer Rob Ellis on drums and piano, shook the venue's small confines with a big-sounding and polished rock show.

If there were ever doubts that Harvey might not be suitable for arenas when she opens for Irish rockers U2 next spring, she quickly put those to rest.

The singer, magnificently decked out in a beautiful sleeveless black dress with a white fringe hem and black suede, stiletto-heeled boots, often strapped on an electric guitar as she quickly made her way through 16 songs in just 65 minutes.

She often recalled a sexier version of the two female rockers she's most often compared to -- Chrissie Hynde and Patti Smith -- whether she was stalking the stage with microphone in hand or just howling away in her deep and powerful voice.

But just so you don't get the wrong idea, the 31-year-old Harvey is definitely an original.

The show broke wide open with the arrival of the third and fourth songs, The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore -- highlighted by Harvey's primal-scream vocals -- and the new album's poppy first single, Good Fortune.

The set list was heavy on material from Stories, although older songs like Dry , which featured Laika band member Margaret Fiedler on cello, and Man-Size and Hair -- bolstered by the excellent bass playing of Eric Drew Feldman -- cropped up, much to the delight of the sold-out crowd.

Still, Harvey should be encouraged by the fact that it was the new material that really stood out, like the sweet love song, You Said Something, the pretty, slow building rocker One Line and the more raucous This Is Love, Kamikaze and Big Exit.

Also worth a mention was the electrifying The Sky Lit Up, which saw Fiedler wail away on guitar, and the gorgeous renditions of the slower-tempoed Angelene -- with Ellis on piano -- and Down By The Water.

The club's 9 p.m. curfew for live shows on Friday night meant that Harvey couldn't return for a second encore despite the audience's obvious desire for more as they cheered, clapped and stomped until the lights finally went up.

She even got a bouquet of red roses.

The good news is that Harvey will return to North America to headline her own tour next September.

JAM! Rating: 4.5 out of 5