STEVE HACKETT & PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING MAKE THEIR TRIUMPHANT FRIARS AYLESBURY RETURNS IN OCTOBER

Ever since Public Service Broadcasting played their sell-out Bright Magic Friars Aylesbury show at the Waterside in 2021, demand has been steadily growing for them to return. They immediately connected with the FA audience and are now regarded as a core Friars Aylesbury band. PSB recently announced their eagerly awaited new album, The Last Flight, which will be released on 4 October. It tells the story of Amelia Earhart's round-the-world flight in 1937 and features vocal contributions from Andreya Casablanca, This Is The Kit and EERA. There’s also a new single Electra, which is out now

PSB have been “teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future” for more than a decade. 2013’s debut album Inform-Educate-Entertain used archival samples from the British Film Institute as audio-portals to the Battle Of Britain, the summit of Everest and beyond. Two years later, The Race For Space used similar methods to laud the superpowers’ rivalry and heroism in orbit and on the moon. In 2017, joined by voices including Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield, Every Valley was a moving exploration of community and memory via the rise and fall of the British coal industry. Pointedly topical in its analyses, it reached number four on the UK charts

PSB are London based and consist of founding member J. Willgoose Esq on guitar, banjo, other stringed instruments, samplings and electronic musical instruments, Wrigglesworth on drums, piano and electronic instruments and J F Abraham on flugelhorn, bass guitar, drums and assorted other instruments including a vibraslap. The band have toured internationally and in 2015 were announced as nominee in the Vanguard Breakthrough category of the Progressive Music Awards which they won.

Their 2021 album Bright Magic was their most ambitious undertaking yet. Based in the political metropolis that is Berlin, Willgoose moved there from April 2019 to January 2020 and immersed himself in Berlin influences including Depeche Mode’s classic eighties triumvirate, U2’s ‘Achtung baby’ and particularly Bowie’s ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ albums……and there’s the Aylesbury connection.

Bright Magic debuted at No 2 in the UK album chart and was described by Electronic Sound as “their mostt ambitious, leftfield and majestic work to date, their glorious creative peak, their magnum opus”, DIY said “it flourished at its most calm and erupted at its most fervent” and Clash said it “cemented PSB's reputation as a vital act right at the top of their game”. The album also featured multiple BBC Radio 6 Music A-Listed singles, including “People, Let’s Dance” [ft. EERA] and “Blue Heaven” [ft. Andreya Casablanca].

Wednesday 2 October: STEVE HACKETT (Sold Out)

Thursday 30 October: PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING + Halo Maud

Following his stunning sell-out Friars date in September 2022, Steve Hackett returns to Friars Aylesbury, the place where Genesis began, for a special show marking the 50^th anniversary of Genesis’ sixth studio album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway which they released in 1974. Friars was closely involved with Genesis throughout their early career. In 1972, Friars thought the band were in danger of splitting up, so a special Genesis Convention gig was organised at Watford Town Hall to celebrate how good they were and to attract some press attention. It worked, and Genesis eventually went on to be one of the biggest bands in the world. Genesis’ Mike Rutherford said in 2021 that if it wasn’t for Friars the band may well have split up at that time. In 2022 we presented Steve Hackett with the FA Cup (the Friars Aylesbury Cup). “I’m hugely looking forward to the 2024 UK tour,” says Steve, “including ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ favourites as well as other iconic Genesis numbers along with solo gems.”

Good to see that new Aylesbury MP Laura Kyrke-Smith mentioned Friars Aylesbury, Aylesbury’s David Bowie legacy and the Bowie statue Earthly Messenger in her maiden speech on 24 July in the House of Commons. (Check it out online) October beckons