Live Review: Public Service Broadcasting @ OPEN, Norwich

Words originally for Outline Magazine

J Willgoose Esquire, Wrigglesworth

London’s Public Service Broadcasting are a unique gem on the musical map of this generation. Consisting of the pseudonymous J. Willgoose Esquire and his trusty sidekick Wrigglesworth, the duo engineer prog-rock masterpieces unlike anything you’ve ever heard, using samples from vintage film clips to carry the discourse of their music. It’s as mad as it sounds, and totally brilliant. Tonight at OPEN, their one-of-a-kind show is no different.

Support comes from All We Are, an international trio of dreamy looking, dreamy sounding electro pioneers based in Liverpool. Their ambient, downbeat tunes sound a treat as they resound around the magnificent hall at OPEN, made even more atmospheric by the hazy fog dripping from the stripped-back stage. Since supporting the Vaccines at the UEA LCR last spring, their sound has developed hugely, and new tracks like Down and Burn It All Out suggest a promising second album from this alluring, celestial three-piece.

During changeover time, more and more equipment, props and decorations are unveiled, transforming the stage at OPEN into a dystopian junkyard, choc full of retro novelties and futuristic curios. Now we’re only waiting for our spacemen. When the lights dim, a snarky film airs to deter visitors from disrupting the show by filming on phones. Emerging immediately after, Public Service Broadcasting look smugly satisfied at the positive reception to their warning. Then, they get down to business.

Opener Sputnik live is an experience unlike no other. Like Big Brother, an autonomous voice pronounces that, “this is the beginning of a new era for mankind: the era of man’s cosmic existence”, as a pounding Thriller-esque beat pounds its way into your brain. Images of space apparatus flash up on the huge screens either side of the stage, and as the audio-visual experience reaches is stellar crescendo, an enormous model satellite rises up into the air, like a scene from a film. Chills run down your spine as the lights flash in time with the deafening drumbeats, but the krautrocker NASA scientists that are PSB keep their heads down, fitting into the artifice like a cog. It’s chilling, moving and must be one of the most powerful openers to a show you can see today.

This magnificence carries on for the whole evening. Each song brings with it its own visuals – Elfstedentocht features Dutch ice skaters, Dig For Victory covers World War Two and Signal 30 takes footage from a notoriously grisly road safety film from 1959. PSB harness the emotive nature of their chosen visuals, layering riveting rock music over the top like some sort of Brian Cox/Ian Curtis amalgamation. Occasionally between songs, Willgoose will chirp in with a pre-recorded remark, adding comedy into the vast mix of emotions felt tonight.

Things take a lighter turn towards the end. Songs are dedicated to Einstein and first man in space Yuri Gargarin, the band’s brass section making flourishing guest appearances intermittently to add to the wall of sound being thrust at OPEN this evening. Thanks are said to the production team before the set closes with a peak – Everest to be precise. Dismissing his virtual alter ego to say goodbye in person, Willgoose ends what’s been an event thoroughly in-keeping with his band’s motto: educational, informative and indisputably entertaining. 

Public Service Broadcasting's The Race For Space is out now. 

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