WORDS AND IMAGES SAM HOLT
Public Service Broadcasting made a stop at Wolverhampton’s Wulfrun Hall as part of their latest tour, promoting their newest album, The Last Flight, which debuted just a few months ago. Like many of their previous works, this album explores a significant historical time or event, with the focus this time on Amelia Earhart‘s final flight. Looking back a decade, the band garnered widespread acclaim for their album The Race for Space.
Much of the band’s material is crafted by J Wilgoose Esq. Their music is characterised by an electronic foundation that occasionally incorporates rock elements. While it can be challenging to categorise, many listeners label their sound as a blend of art rock, electronic, and indie. Although the music is primarily instrumental, it features spoken word segments instead of traditional vocals, often utilising samples from public information and propaganda films along with archival footage.
Kicking off the evening was She Drew The Gun, a band hailing from the Wirral and led by the talented Louisa Roach. Accompanied by bassist Anna and drummer Sian, they delivered a short, half-hour set. Louisa skilfully blended spoken word with her singing, conveying her narratives in a poetic manner. Her lyrics, often politically charged, tackled themes of oppression and social awareness. While I picked up on these thought-provoking messages, I couldn’t help but wonder how many others in the audience were equally engaged. Overall, their set seemed to resonate positively with the Wolverhampton crowd.
Shortly after 9 p.m., Public Service Broadcasting took to the stage, delivering a captivating performance that prominently showcased their latest album, The Last Flight. In recent years, the band has shifted from relying primarily on public information and propaganda samples to incorporating more vocal elements. Tonight’s line-up included J Wilgoose on keys and guitars, JF Abraham handling keys, bass, and percussion, Wiggleworth on drums, and Mr B managing the audio-visuals, with vocalist Eera also contributing additional keys. The set list prominently featured tracks from the new album as well as The Race for Space, Every Valley, and Inform – Educate – Entertain.
The stage set was particularly interesting, resembling the cockpit of the Electra flown by Amelia Earhart. The band opened with two songs from the new album and also included “The Pit” early in the set. This provided Wilgoose an opportunity to display the modified Fender Telecaster used during the recording of Every Valley, which is currently up for grabs in a competition.
I thoroughly enjoyed the performance of “The Night Mail”, but it was the band’s well-known tracks like “Spitfire”, “The Theme from PSB”, and “The Other Side” that truly resonated with the audience. At that moment, the energy was electric: fans were singing, dancing, and completely immersed in the rich soundscapes. The set concluded with a stunning rendition of “Go”, followed by a recorded message expressing gratitude to the Wolverhampton crowd. However, the night wasn’t over yet, as the band returned for an encore. J Wilgoose shared that this was their first time headlining in Wolverhampton, and they were keen to play a few more songs. The crowd’s enthusiasm was palpable as they delivered five additional tracks from their extensive back catalogue, finishing with the powerful “Everest”.
A Public Service Broadcasting performance goes beyond a typical gig: it is an immersive experience that combines excellent music with an impressive lighting display and stunning audio-visual elements. Much of this was showcased through the dials on the stage set, contributing to a pleasant evening that truly captivated the audience and made for an unforgettable show.
SET LIST
1 Electra
2 The Fun of It
3 The Pit
4 Progress
5 Theme From PSB
6 Night Mail
7 Monsoons
8 A Different Kind of Love
9 The South Atlantic
10 Arabian Flight
11 Blue Heaven
12 Spitfire
13 All Out
14 The Other Side
15 Go
Encore
16 Elfstedentocht Part 2
17 People Lets Dance
18 Gargarin
19 Qomolangma
20 Everest
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My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
