“What exactly do you do for an encore?” Well, Pulp have been asking that question for a while at this point and it seems the answer is to announce a comprehensive reunion tour – including their first stop in Wales in over 20 years on their reunion tour.
Opening this evening is the fantastic Baxter Dury whose brand of indie warms up the room nicely for the main event. After which a broody intro sees a promise flash up on the screens – “this is a night you will remember for the rest of your life” – ahead of Pulp’s 531st live performance.
The curtains open and the band plays I Spy; Jarvis Cocker rises in front of the moon at the back of the stage before making his way to the front, each step illuminating along the way. In the first of a few such efforts this evening, Jarvis attempts to introduce the band in Welsh, adding, “We’re going to entertain you for the next couple of hours. That’s okay, is it?” Before you know it, the Pulp frontman is leading the crowd in clapping along to a certain riff, and Disco 2000 bursts into life with the first confetti shower of the evening. “Diolch… a lot!”
There’s something for every Pulp fan in the set this evening, from the likes of singles (Mis-Shapes, which feels more relevant than ever), to album cuts (both Weeds and Weeds II). Something Changed is dedicated to the band’s bassist Steve Mackey, who died earlier this year, in a tender moment of remembrance for one of the band’s longest-serving members, while a favourite of 1994’s His’n’Hers album, Pink Glove, is spectacular live and a welcome addition to the set.
Tonight, there’s a double encore too. The first comprises B-side Like A Friend (“It’s not one of our well-known ones – it was in a film”), 1995’s Underwear (which Jarvis claims he couldn’t find the Welsh translation for), and the uber-class-consciousness banger that is Common People – which leads some to think the show is over. But WAIT! There’s more, as the band come back for a triple whammy of the “newest thing we’re gonna play tonight” (After You), “probably the oldest thing we’re going to play tonight” (Razzmatazz), and Glory Days, which sees archive footage flash across the stage.
If these are indeed Pulp’s glory days, then long may they continue. They may be older, but they still feel as vital as they did in the 90s, in a world of startling inequality for the mis-shapes and the misfits. And if this is their final Welsh encore, it will have been worth the two-decade-plus wait: this amazing night in Cardiff ends with the message from Jarvis Cocker, “We’ll see you again, I hope”.
Pulp + Baxter Dury, Cardiff International Arena, Wed 12 July
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS photos EMMA LEWIS
