February
1986, and I’m visiting my friend Craig Gurney for one of many drunken
post-adolescent weekends at his Sheffield Polytechnic Halls of Residence.
Before we hit the snowy bus stop to get me on my train journey home, he
suggests I listen to a new release from a local band he picked up on; “it’s a
bit Scott Walker-ish, I think you’ll like it…” Sure enough, I was captivated by
the mournful, hushed tones, widescreen orchestral feel and slightly risque
choral lyric, and hunted down my own copy on my return to the ‘don. The track?
“Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)”. That local band? Pulp…
I was a Pulp aficionado then, hooked from there, following them on their musical odyssey from lush Walker-esque 60’s B-Movie soundtrack auteurs, through morose disco-tinged Krautrock/ Moroder acolytes, to “World of Twist-like pop divas with a touch of Oxfam glam kitsch”, as I’d described them when I first saw them, at the Oxford Jericho Tavern pub upstairs room in May 1992 (gig 210). Pulp gigs then were, sadly, few and far between and mainly oop North, that Oxford gig not only being the first time I saw them, but the first time the band had ventured that far down South! However, that tour and the subsequent brilliant, defining triad of singles in “OU”, “Babies” and “Razzmatazz”, heralded the start of a significant upturn in their activities and fortunes, culminating in that legendary 1995 Glasto headlining slot, and the adoption of their irresistible anthem “Common People” as the soundtrack for the thinking man’s version of Britpop, i.e. not the laddish “Loaded” misogynistic one. Blur vs. Oasis… who won? Pulp did…
Their early 2000’s breakup saw them disappear from my “Dance Card” (7 not out – usually fun, and one time, gig 233, where we shared their garlic bread!), subsequent “slight returns” being either too big, too outdoors, too expensive or sold out too quick. However, earlier this year Jarvis Cocker and his charges once again decided to poke their heads above the parapet, not only announcing some arena dates but also a new album in “More”, their first for a near-quarter century. This time the stars aligned, and I got myself and my Pulp fan lady wife tix. So, a shlep up to Birmingham was called for, and we hit the road in what we thought was enough time to hit the City Centre Arena venue in more than good time for Pulp’s unsupported start time of 8 p.m.. Wrong on 2 counts, as not only did ma-hoosive queues and rubber-neckers turn our shlep into an arduous 3-hour stop-start slog, but on arrival at 7.30, we parked up on level 13 of the car park (!) and were then confronted with a similarly ma-hoosive queue going down the road and doubling back before the usual cattle corral into the venue, taking us over half an hour to get in, and from there (after a totally unnecessary double-search and wristband) ushered to the back of the floor before we even could take a viewing spot (in deference to my wife, a less crowded one house centre, a few yards behind the mixing desk)! So my hackles were already raised… Jarvo and co. had better be top-notch after this palaver…
Luckily for us the start was delayed, albeit not by much as the lights dropped at 8.10 and a symphonic synth swell was overlaid with a robotic female announcer, intoning solemnly, “this is an evening you’ll remember for the rest of your lives…” maybe, but for the wrong reasons so far, bucko… However, a blue spotlight picked out the unmistakeable silhouettes of the remaining 4 “Britpop” era Pulp members, Jarvis then leaving the cut-outs of his colleagues to descend the stage centre stairs whilst singing the opening to mid-paced newie “Spike Island”, the sound already pretty good and sorted for such a huge room.
Kudos to Pulp; they well and truly threw the kitchen sink at it tonight. Augmented by what looked like half an orchestra, backing singers and complementary slideshow backdrops, they well and truly delivered the “More” that they felt folk were clamouring for. That said, for me the new album is kitsch Britpop-era Pulp-by-numbers at best, throwaway and rather dull at worst, so for me the first hour-long set, based primarily on these numbers, was ok, nothing more. Sure, we had the Nations 90’s favourite vaguely smutty uncle cum (sic) befuddled Uni lecturer Jarvis in good deadpan form, entertaining more for me with his between song stories of Sheffield Limit club in the 80’s (“you could find your limit – on hygiene in the toilets…”) and feeling old at 33 when he wrote the languid “Help The Aged”(an early feature) than with his oft-murmured conversational vocals and vogue-ish stick insect shape-throwing. We got “Disco 2000” too, the roof-raising singalong my first set-highlight by some considerable distance, but for me that first hour was mostly excellently played versions of quite average material, and I hoped for more (but not more “More”, necessarily…!) after the intermission…
We got it – and how! Hopes were raised with a mid-break audience poll choice of additional track, won convincingly by “Razzmatazz” (yay!), then on resumption, the 4 core Pulp-ers snuck through the curtains, Jarvis relating how they’d rehearsed for this tour in a Peak District living room, then creating that vibe with a lovely, stripped back “Something Changed”. Then following a dark, macabre “The Fear”, a real gem in the tremendous building chorus and dismissive “yeah, yeah yeah yeah-eah”’s of a wonderful set-highlight “OU”, taking me right back to those Jericho days. The underhand perversity and startling chorus of “Razzmatazz” was duly delivered, before the brooding Doors-like keys and twitchy curtain sleaze of “Acrylic Afternoons”, then Rachel’s highlight, a joyously careering “Do You Remember The First Time?” preceded by Jarvis relating his first time in Birmingham; “The Hibernian, 26 May 1992!” Hmm, that Jericho gig, my first time, was 3 days later… The strident 70’s Motown pastiche of “Got To Have Love” (the best track on “More” for me and, conversely, the only newie selected for this stellar second set) was followed by the plaintive and lovely “Babies”, happily completing that Gift recordings triad “live” tonight. But, this being a Pulp gig, things were building up to one inevitable thing…
Yup,
that’s right, an early departure! Rach was understandably feeling the pace of a
big gig and a difficult journey and, cognisant of our car park spot, I’d chatted
up a friendly steward who ushered us through the nearest exit to our car park
on the opening pulsing notes of final set number “Common People”. It’s OK,
heard it about a zillion times, and it was never going to approach “OU” for me,
or “First Time” for Rach… We were out of the venue at 10.30, the car park lickety
split, and on the M5 20 minutes later, home for ¼ past midnight. Even half of “Common
People” and I reckon we’d have been at least an hour later… So, a well played first
set, a quite magnificent second one delving back to the Pulp I love (d), and
overall Jarvo and co. in great form, making up for the journey and venue issues
and living up to that Sheffield Poly discovery legacy. “More” we wanted; and
more we got!
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