Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow
History-focused band brings live magic to heartfelt songs about the lost aviator and other spirits from a more hopeful age
Corduroy suit, spotted bow-tie, professorial spectacles: J Wilgoose Esq takes to the Barrowland stage dressed as the sort of chap who comes to a sticky end in an MR James ghost story. Which is apt as his band, Public Service Broadcasting, are in the business of raising the dead. In this case, Amelia Earhart, the aviator whose life, achievements and disappearance over the Pacific Ocean in 1937 are chronicled in new album The Last Flight. The stage is dressed to resemble the interior of her cockpit. Newsreel of Earhart looking happy and gallant plays on the instrument panel.
Public Service Broadcasting specialise in evoking 20th-century history. Their previous work includes meditations on Berlin, the space race and the Welsh mining industry, selections from all of which make the set. Although their sound mixes rock and electronica, the band’s exploration of themes places them within a classical tradition: Holst’s The Planets, Britten’s War Requiem – these could, with a little tweaking, be their records, too.
