Summer 2023 has been one for homecomings in Sheffield with local heroes Def Leppard and Arctic Monkeys both returning to grace stages across the steel city over the past few months. Now was the turn of Pulp to complete the hattrick with two shows at the Utilita Arena, this being the second, as part of their ‘This is what we do for an encore’ tour.
‘This is a night you will remember for the rest of your life’ was the message displayed on the big screen as the lights went down shortly before 9pm. The band had last toured a decade previously, thought then to be a swansong on a glittering career, this run of shows has been billed as an encore. Or to put it in Pulp terms ‘what happens when the crowd wants more’. Whatever was to come over the next two hours, you couldn’t shake the palpable feeling that it was going to be something special.
It certainly started with a bang, the curtain peeling back to reveal Jarvis Cocker atop a large set of stairs before launching into ‘I-Spy’, the singer gangling his way down each step to a rapturous applause from the audience.
This applause very soon stepped up a notch as the unmistakeable opening riff of ‘Disco 2000’ echoed out, canons shooting orange confetti over the crowd as they chanted every verse and chorus. From there the hits continued, ‘Mis-Shapes‘ picked up where the previous song left off followed by the gorgeous ‘Something Changed’, dedicated to late bassist Steve Mackey. This was something special.
Cocker was on excellent form all night, constantly moving around the stage dipping into the repertoire of flicks and shimmies that he became known for in his heyday. Eccentricity coupled with charm, often rambling but always engaging and doused in the dry wit which has become a trademark in so much of his work. He seems genuinely pleased to be home too, at one point quipping that he probably knows half of us, and peppering his audience interaction with tales of growing up in the City.
All this comes against the backdrop from the big screen which flits between mirroring Cocker’s movements with trippy, ethereal graphics reminiscent of a Bond theme, and vignettes of the band in years gone by. The addition of a string section added further grandiose to the evening as well as acting as an impromptu light show (‘Pink Glove’) or an instant rent-a-crowd complete with bucket hats (‘Sorted For E’s & Wizz’) when not playing.
The rest of band itself are tight too, and there’s no signs of rustiness in the ranks as they continue to play through a set filled with a mix of both hits and slightly deeper cuts. Understandably it’s the former which get the biggest reactions with the likes of ‘Sorted For E’s & Wizz’, ‘Do You Remember The First Time?’ and ‘Babies’ receiving the kind of raucous party atmosphere that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand to attention.
After a brief interlude filled by Jarvis reading a passage from a Lydia Davis novel (I did mention he was eccentric), he’s rejoined by the band for ‘Like A Friend’ and ‘Underwear’ before peering out into the audience and nonchalantly joking ‘Is there one we’ve missed?’ The whole room knows what’s coming and when it arrives the atmosphere has gone transcendental.
With the sort of career Pulp have enjoyed they can be excused the self-indulgence of a second encore. Opening with ‘After You’ – their newest song (albeit still over a decade old) which, Jarvis points out, was first made available via a downloadable code printed on a Christmas card given out to attendees of their last Sheffield show in December 2012. ‘Razzmatazz’ and ‘Glory Days’ follow but neither got near to the energy of the encore previous.
‘I can promise you that no one has ever heard this song except for us on stage’ exclaimed Cocker taking to a keyboard placed front and centre of the stage. What followed was the final song of the night, ‘Hymn of the North’, a piano led number complete with swirling strings. Pleasant enough but felt like a rare misstep, more reminiscent of the lights coming on at the end of a Wedding reception than following a performance of some of the Country’s most iconic songs, sapping what energy was left in the crowd before we filed out into the Sheffield drizzle.
There’s a certain irony that if this is to be Pulp’s encore, that it was the encore itself that let it down. That said, there was enough that went before to forgive this many times over and on reflection the big screen was right… this was a night I will remember for the rest of my life.
Words by Toby Lee
Picky Bastards 