Making their yearly visit to the Capital, Public Service Broadcasting (PSB) return to Edinburgh with a new album, new set but same fantastic live show. With a more political themed album, we waited apprenhensively for how it would play out. Such doubts were immediately put at ease when the quirky band appeared on stage complete with bow ties.
They kick off as ‘Every Valley” does, with the same first 3 songs Every Valley, The Pit and People Will Always Need Coal. Flanked by churning mining wheels and dimly lit by the lowering of miner lamps - the tone of the evening was set. The setlist is carefully crafted with a steady pace slowing for Valentina and Progress, and picking back up with the excellent Spitfire.
PSB are at home on stage (which explains the non-stop touring), with carefully selected archive footage and lighting which bring each song to life - along with their very own brass section! Leaving the minor IT issue a-side, there’s very little PSB can do wrong, finishing with The Other Side and Go! complete with dancing astronauts.
J WIllGoose, Esq - the creative mind behind PSB - keeps crowd interaction to a minimum, except before new track All Out, when taking a moment to highlight the Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign. The encore then finished with crowd favourites Gagarin and Everest.
I remember reading an article about PSB’s debut album, stating it’s qualities but ending with the statement - “More a concept than a band, it's a little hard to see where they can go from here without repeating themselves.“. Yet, here we are, two albums later and an almost perfect stage show, tonight PSB prove they are a band and not just a concept.
Highlights: The Other Side, All Out, Spitfire
Lowlights: Very drunk 40-somethings everywhere. Dancing Astronauts instead of Cosmonauts during Gagarin.
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