Public Service Broadcasting concert

One day I got a message out of the blue from Sue. Did I want to come to a concert by Public Service Broadcasting? I quickly hit YouTube as I didn't know the band very well. I knew their latest single but that was it. YouTube showed me a lot more (like this). It was clear that these were a bunch of industrial heritage enthusiasts. It's not directly my style; I quite like vocals, and they are more the voice-over kind of band. But it was interesting! And I like my industrial heritage. And I hadn't been to a concert in about a thousand years. And the company would be good. So I said yes!

Then time passed and the concert came nigh. I suggested car sharing, but that offer was not accepted; Sue and Dean wanted to be free to leave whenever, and Mart was busy with the cat and wasn't sure when he could make it. So we all drove up independently! Poor environment, but well, I tried. We all arrived almost at the same time. And without much ado we went in to listen to the support act: Eera. I had never heard of her, and neither had the others, but she impressed all of us. She was up there all alone, but she did well! And for the last song, two of the members of the main act joined her on stage.

The main act came on, dressed all in white. They took a bit of a Kraftwerk-like position on stage; a bunch of serious-looking blokes behind stands that did not only contain keyboards but also computers. And they were off! They don't leave a lot of empty space in the music; these keyboards are set to work. It made it rather immersive. And they also had a light show to keep your eyes busy. And it didn't take very long before the images of spacecraft or coalmines or suchlike started to appear on the back of the stage. And most of the vocal contributions were indeed voice-overs from the historical footage.

Most of the time, support act Eera took her place among the men. She had changed into white as well, and donned almost comedically big classes. But her vocal skills complemented the largely instrumental music of the band. To be entirely honest; towards the end of the show, I was a bit out-voice-overed. Later there were more contributions; several times, three brass players suddenly appeared, and brought some extra oomph to the contract. They were quite energetic! More so than the Kraftwerk tribute they added to. 

Though this was a sitdown concert, and covid restrictions were still in place with the entire audience expected to wear facemasks, the band did encourage getting up and dancing. They even have a song called 'people, let's dance!' (with Eera). But they soon realised they were probably asking us to break the law. Not everyone cared; the three people in front of us were quite inclined to not make this a sitdown concert. But we stayed seated. 

During the encore, even two people in novelty spacesuits came onto the stage to dance. But then it was over! And we went out again. 

It was quite late for a week night so we just all went home, in our separate cars. It had been more a concert than a social occasion; during the music, you can't talk much, and between the two acts, we were quite hindered by the masks. I do some of my understanding of what people say by lipreading! And that wasn't happening. But I was glad I had gone! My first concert since forever, and well worth it! 

A pic from an earlier concert; I didn't take any pictures myself. Pic by pahudson