Public Service Broadcasting - Barbican, York 27.03.2025

This was my first visit to Yorks Barbican and I have to say I was really impressed with it. I know a lot of shows here are seated which could change my opinion but for tonight’s performance the stalls were a open space for folk to do their thing (which they did in abundance).

I’ll start by saying I do have a deep love for Public Service Broadcasting so you could read this thinking I’m a bit biased ……… and you’d be right BUT it’s a well founded bias as I’ve never seen a poor show by them yet 😊

As is the norm the evening begins with the familiar plumby voiced message reminding us of the mobile phone and talking etiquette which received an applause as big as a set favourite! Then onto the intro of Bowie’s “Sound & Vision“ which was interrupted by a huge crackle and buzzzzz BANG and then silence …….. J Wilgoose Esq made an appearance to a cheer until folk realised the gig wasn’t starting and that the vital equipment had fritzed!!!! Luckily after a frantic “reboot” the show got underway for real with Wrigglesworths’ machine like drum beat introducing 'Electra' much to the joy of the packed auditorium!.

These current dates are the second round of the Last Flight tour dates and it’s great to see the new tunes sitting in the set and getting as much love as old favourites.

Eera has become a firm fixture in the band now not just backing (not that she was ever that mind) and she absolutely shines onThe Fun Of i which (like I said last review) could be a huge hit as a single in my opinion. It has an earworm of a chorus a brilliantly poppy vibe about it made more magic with Eeras vocal and a subject close to my heart - doing something for the fun of it.

And then the gremlins strike again…. The funky guitar lick kicking off 'People Will Always Need Coal' is cut short by tech failing again …… could this be the gig that never was??!! …. hell no !!! Willgoose gets everything back on track and we are off again down the mines and luckily no more glitches for the rest of the evening. Luckily the band seem in good spirits not letting this deter them and there’s smiles all round.

'Progress' is up next and again highlighting Eeras ethereal vocal and one of my favourite points of the night

'Der Rhythmus Der Maschinen' when played live is HUGE! It’s almost in NIN Rammstein territory with its industrial like vibe.

The stage again is set like the Electra cockpit with all the dials serving as video screens for both archive and live footage curated by the very busy Mr B handling both the live feed camera and visuals for each song

J F Abraham is no slouch either mind you handling bass duties, flugelhorn, percussion, getting the crowd going and more.

I was lucky to get a particular favourite of mine tonight (as they change the set nightly) with 'Night Mail' which has the 1936 poem by WH Auden in full surrounded by beats and melodies that just have me grinning ear to ear

There’s a middle chunk of four from 'The Last Flight' which whilst they stand alone as tracks they work so much better as one segment together charting Earharts fateful final journey. Once again Eeras fragile heartbreaking vocal ('South Atlantic' & 'Different Kind of Love') had the crowd in total awe pin drop silent!

Even though I’d seen one of the shows earlier in the tour 'Monsoons' yet again took my face off live it’s just so powerful and heavy with Willgoose attacking the guitar ferociously creating a post rock vibe and the feel of flying through a storm

'Spitfire' comes out blazing like its namesake with the crowd going for it big style. And I have to say the crowd were on the whole class, they pretty much took heed of the message at the beginning and I saw very few folk with phones out through the night they were all just living in the moment.

Have to mention the Brassy Gents whose stage presence is getting more and more elaborate each show with some brilliant moves from each of them whilst adding some lovely brass depth. I think it was during 'Gagarin' where the whole band, brassy gents and dancing cosmonauts just froze like statues for what seemed like an age, similar to the time Houston lost contact with the Apollo 8 craft ('The Other Side' also a high spot of the night) and then just dropped back into the tune no bother still dancing! Also massive props for mashing up the 'Gagarin' main melody from the outro of 'People Let’s Dance'.

The main set finished with the air punching anthem 'Go!' to a deafening applause.

The night ended with the spine tingling goosebump inducing 'Everest' I don’t think I’ll ever not enjoy hearing this ode to man’s quest to conquer nature.

Tonight was kind of a full circle for me as the first time I saw PSB it was 2012 just round the corner at Fibbers also here in York. It was just J & Wrigglesworth then (with some visuals) and I was totally blown away. For me they’ve consistently been one of the most interesting bands around and I can’t wait to see what subject they tackle next.

The band are bigger and the venues change but the corduroy stays the same!

Public Service Broadcasting

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