Public Service Broadcasting – Leeds Academy 19/10/2024

Public Service Broadcasting really are a concert experience unlike most others. Trying to pigeon hole them to a certain genre is a useless exercise. Is it Prog? Possibly. Are there elements of dance music in there? Again, very possibly but to try and fit this band into a box is futile because there really is nothing like them and in terms of success, they are going from strength to strength. It is not just here in Britain that people are falling under their spell but all over Europe where this tour will be taking in shows in Holland, Germany, Spain, France and Scandinavia. The crowd is already cheering during the intro tape instructing fans to put away their phones, stop trying to film a show and simply enjoy the experience. Well said!

The lights go down and a video backdrop of the cockpit of Amelia Earhart, the groundbreaking female pilot, whose story is the basis of new album “The Last Flight” comes alive in front of us. The first 3 songs of the set, Towards The Dawn, Electra and The Fun Of It are all taken from the new album and what hits you is just how this West Yorkshire crowd are in absolute rapture. The Academy is absolutely packed to the seams, in my opinion Public Service Broadcasting will be taking a step up into some of the biggest halls that we have to offer them. Further tracks from The Last Flight such as Arabian Flight which talks about the beauty of flying across the desert could almost be a metaphor for the band themselves. There is a beauty in PSB. It feels that their passion for the subjects they are speaking about (in this case, the beauty of flight, but in previous albums it has been in space travel or the power of radio or even that most British of inventions, the Spitfire.)

There is such diversity in the set, ranging from acoustic tracks such as when support artist Halo Maud sings A Different Kind Of Love to more riff heavy rockers such as Spitfire or probably the best received song of the night. Set closer Go! is greeted like a long lost friend. There was no way that this West Yorkshire crowd were going to let the band sneak off without an encore and they are treated to four more songs. The first is a track that has not been performed since 2016, Elfstedentocht Part 1, from their Berlin based record, Bright Magic and this is followed by a further bangers, Come On Lets Dance, Gregarin (we are up in space again) and set closer, the mighty Everest. It has been hard to write this review because it has been so different from any concerts I have been to before…but that is what makes it great! A UK Tour, starting in Bath in March 2025 and visiting the likes of Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Sheffield and York, has just been announced as I write this review and my advice is simple. Get a ticket and be prepared to be taken on a trip unlike any other whether it be by plane, spaceship or whatever….it will be one hell of a ride!!!