Pulp – St Annes Park – Live Review
by Killian Laher

Pulp were bundled in with what was known as Britpop, but they actually were around since the early 80s, taking their time to emerge from obscurity.  This tour is not really dressed up as anything other than what it is, a nostalgic reunion tour for the fans.  First on the bill were The Orielles who opened with the loose, hazy groove of Airtight.  The stop-start vibe of The Room came off a bit like early Cardigans.  The band sounded intense though some of the complexities of what they were trying to do were lost in the open-air venue.

Richard Hawley was up next for a fairly rocking set, opening with Off My Mind where Hawley’s growled vocals called to mind the late Mark Lanegan.  A workmanlike set supplied plenty of highlights, the summery Tonight The Streets Are Ours and Don’t Stare At The Sun seemed like perfect chilled-out fare for a warm evening.  I’m Looking For Someone To Find Me got the crowd dancing, while the moody grind of Standing At The Sky’s Edge also worked well.  Galley Girl almost lurched into Stooges territory!

With a long, dramatic entrance, Jarvis Cocker and band opened with I Spy, heavy on strings and posturing from the frontman.  Disco 2000 set the tone for the evening, this was not the Pulp of This Is Hardcore (though they did air the title track), the band had clearly come to party, though not too hard.  Cocker made a couple of terrible attempts at speaking Irish, but that aside he and the band were flawless, rendering their songs note perfect.  The 90s rave scene referencing Sorted for E’s & Whizz felt like a real throwback, almost like a historical piece.

The band played all the crowd-pleasers with Do You Remember the First Time and Babies getting a particularly good reaction.  The set ended with an epic version of Sunrise, with Richard Hawley joining the band on guitar.  A shortish encore featured Like A Friend and Underwear before the one the delirious audience was waiting for – Common People, which sounded as fresh as it did back in 1995.  Yep, for sure Something Changed, but on the evidence of this, not that much.