So as a hobbling JJ and myself wander from the station to The Leadmill we ponder on which
Leadmill stage PSB will be setting up the TVs. We both think it'll be the small stage but both hope it's the main stage. We're right. The show (I can't call it a gig and you'll see why later) is scheduled for the small stage but ticket sales have dictated otherwise. I've not seen The Leadmill this busy for some time.
I should warn you now that reviewing Public Service Broadcasting live is tricky. I will run out of superlatives and end up sounding pretentious.
First stop is the merch stand to thank Giles for the guest list and for me to fall in love with two items. One is the PSB tea-towel. I'd never use it. Cherry Blossom will testify to that. I just love it though. The second is a thing of beauty. The new PSB album, Inform, Educate, Entertain, on vinyl. In a gatefold sleeve. It's indescribably gorgeous and probably a whole separate blog. Awe is the only word to describe my feelings. And maybe lust.
My musings are interrupted by first on stage In The Valley Below. They start off slow. Ethereal. Haunting. Joshua on drums seems to have something different to shake on every song. Not to be out done by song four singer Angela has some serious industrial chain to shake. The Leadmill crowd seem to be enjoying the keyboard driven tunes, although they also seem a little confused. As JJ points out they could fit nicely onto a Human League circa 1983 show. Given we're in the steel city I can imagine ITVB doing a post Human League/Heaven 17 gig at the Limit Club. But we'd fallen into the age old trap of insisting every band has a genre. The almost indie guitar intro of Peaches kicks in and the band finally have the crowd in the palm of their hand. It's electronic but well and truly embedded in the 21st century. Final song Neverminds throws us all. An almost Springsteenesque intro of power chords and pounding drums. It's an epic finale. This LA quartet are like no-one else and non-genre specific. As one tweet says on their twitter page, 'They're a bit weird.' It's a good thing.
Public Service Broadcasting have invented their own genre. If you're not aware of this, I'm loathe to use the word band, The Guardian call them a concept. If you're not aware of PSB they take old public service broadcasts, old film snippets (Spitfire, Late Night Final), old propoganda films (Lit Up), US road safety films (Signal 30) and build anthemic music round them the like of which I can guarantee you've never heard, or seen, before. I say seen because to fully appreciate PSB you have to see them live. Three towers of vintage TVs stage front and a giant one at the back of the stage show the old film clips as well as the band being filmed live by visual man Mr. B. It's like British Pathe hosting a rave.
It is a concept right from the album title, the songs, the live show, the pseudonym's the two members use and to the look. They are fully immersed in 'teaching lessons of the past through the future of music.' Wrigglesworth (drums) and J. Willgoose Esq. (everything else) take to the stage looking like they've just finished a day at Bletchley Park cracking the enigma code before deciding to Inform, Educate and Entertain us. So is it all samples, drums and keyboards? Of course not. If you're Willgoose you stick a banjo over the top of it all. And when that won't do some serious rock guitar should suffice. Willgoose rocks out so much at one point his bow-tie comes loose. Many a time I've heard the phrase 'The geeks shall inherit the earth.' Well they've started. Audience communication of course comes through Willgoose's laptop. A computer generated 'Thank you' at the end of every song. 'Thank you very much' for the more enthusiastic receptions (Spitfire, Everest). And a highly amusing 'We've always wanted to play in' pause while Willgoose finds the appropriate function, 'Sheffield.' Public Servive Broadcasting live isn't a gig. It's an event. It's a happening. It's the start of something major.
As I said, they're creating their own genre. Taking sampling and music to a new, incredibly clever, level. As opening album track informs us, 'The news is Public Service Broadcasting. A bright new era dawning. A vivid, pulsating miracle that gives substance to shadow.' If David Byrne was just starting out this is the music that would inspire him. You know when you wake up with a tune in your head and you're not sure what it is? PSB are what Stephen Hawking wakes up with swimming in his mind. It's more than music. It's more than visuals. It's art. Full on rocking out art.
SS
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