Let’s start this off with a little bit of time travel: 12 years ago, I was rushing down the long walkways at the local airport to my gate, with my then girlfriend. It is about 5:30am in the morning, naturally I am clad in a magenta suit, vest and tie and all, and sky-blue tinted round sunglasses on, a heavy french suitcase in my hand – none of which makes the rush any easier. As I am getting closer to my gate, I pass a gentleman, leaning against the wall, equally well dressed. Another five steps or so down the corridor, I stop. Wait: that was Jarvis Cocker! For a brief moment, I re-assess the situation. Shall I? The moment might never occur again! Oh, fuck it: I turn! “Excuse me”, I say, “I really don’t want to bother you, but I just wanted to say that with your work, you have made my life considerable more enjoyable. And I want to thank you for that.” Jarvis looks at me, a little baffled – hey, it is 5am! “Well, thank you.” He says, and shakes my hand. I wish him a very good day and safe travels – I turn, and rush. Away, to my flight to London…
That was the closest I have ever gotten to Pulp. The reunion shows the band played in 2011 and 2012 sold out too quick and were too pricey – not to mention outside of my home country. Then in 2023, the band once again skipped my city, only for them to add two shows this summer, which I had almost missed, was it not for some reliable friends reminding me with their stories from the first night! Yes, following the immensely positive reception to their comeback album, More, Pulp sold out the massive Berlin Tempodrom for two nights! This is especially noteworthy, as the last time the band played the city was in 1998! Much to my dismay, they skipped Berlin in 2002, making 96 and 98 their only shows in town. But hey, here I am, finally finishing my own, personal Infinity Gauntlet of Brit-Pop bands: Oasis, Blur, Placebo, Suede AND Pulp. Guess I could some day also add the Manics and Primal Scream to that list, but hey, those five are the big ones for me.
And it does feel a bit surreal, as Pulp take the stage to sardonic subtitles (“The entire show is an encore!”) and massive tube men are blown up at the front, flapping about, and Jarvis enters from the back, slowly walking to the front, and jumping on the barricades: “In the middle of the night, it feels alright! But by tomorrow morning…”
A few things are immediately, strikingly clear. First of all: Jarvis sounds fantastic! Don’t let any instagram recordings fool you, his voice is almost indistinguishable from the original recordings! Equally, the man does not seem 62 at all (more on that later). His stage presence is that of somebody in their mid 30s and seems directly plucked from the late 90s. During “Sorted for E’s & Wizz”, he sways, gesticulates, shuffles, dances, jumps along to the music: a foxy dandy, filled with mischief and energy! Jarvis DOMINATES the stage, which is filled with musicians – some of them the remaining members of Blur, many others tour collaborators – and backed by a massive projection screen. As the song ends, and the opening riff of “Disco 2000” hits, there is a bit of melancholia present though. It’s been 29 years since I first heard the song, and 30 since Pulp released it – “wouldn’t it be strange if we’re all fully grown”, indeed! While Jarvis is energetic, the rest of the band is clearly more subdued – I’m reminded of seeing Roxy Music live in 2001, when Bryan Ferry was younger than all of Pulp on stage in front of me! But there’s no time to dwell on ageing and nostalgia when a riff is this infectious! This rendition of “Disco 2000” is absolutely incredible, with Cocker hopping bock to front and back again, hitting every note and guitarist Mark Webber and drummer Nick Banks pushing the song forward!
Yes, it is time to celebrate! “Ist euch heiß?”, Jarvis asks on a day that sports around 38°C! “We may all burst into flames at some point”, he jokes, before diving into new track “Spike Island”. Like more More-tracks later, these renditions of new material are absolutely incredible, greatly adding dynamic and atmosphere to the album tracks. Followed by a surprise – and announced as “maybe the oldest song” the band plays that night – Pulp dives into “Razzmatazz” (spoiler, it wouldn’t turn out to be the oldest song that night).
But for now, Jarvis is back to his usual irony. “Look, I know you’ve got Beghain and things like that, but THIS, this was our Berghain”, he explains as he points to a shabby looking club front on the screen. “The Limit! The limit of human endurance… and the limit of human hearing, and human hygiene as well… dare you go through these dark doors?” The crowd agrees, and Pulp dive into “Slow Jam”, one off the best tracks on More, which is particularly beautiful tonight! The relaxed performance makes way for a manic rendition of “F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.” to pulsing, strobing lights, which allows Jarvis once more to prove how good his voice has remained all these years! After, I am elated to find the band dive into “Pink Glove”, one of my favorites. As Jarvis climbs the barricades to address the band, the audience actually tosses pink gloves on stage, which Jarvis quickly picks up, waves and disperses of – see photo! Fantastic, and I wonder if this happens to be a recurring occurrence. “That was about one item of clothing, this is a song about another item of clothing”, Jarvis continues. “Hopefully, well, probably a good idea not to throw these on stage, alright?” And well, would you know it, a bra flies past Jarvis ten seconds into “Underwear” – of course he’s grinning! And well, that’s two of my personal favourites in a row, performed on point!
Jarvis, meanwhile – possibly egged on by the bra – is still in clown mode, and tosses out some organic grapes to the crowd. One last, he wants to catch with his mouth, asking the audience to manifest positive energy, and… fails. Well, I got the moment mid-throw, so let’s just say he performed decently! Ok well, it even fell out his mouth when he just tried to put it in and, oh no, rolls to the barricades. Well sod it, off the grape goes into the audience! “Well, thanks for you help! Here, have some chocolate instead”, he disappointedly adds, before performing a hearty rendition of “Farmer’s Market”, led by Candida Doyle’s keys. One quick remark regarding Doyle, as some readers might have noted – yes, her hands are marked by years of playing, but she delivers an incredible night still! One of the most iconic women in Britpop, she has absolutely earned her spot in music history, and it’s wonderful to see her perform! As the song slowly drifts out, Jarvis turns, and is magnetically driven towards the screen, where Showgirls are bathed in red lights, as the vocalist finally collapses on a chair, stretching his arms out, and “This Is Hardcore” hits. Powerful and loud, the song has lost nothing of its immense glamour and grim desperation! An absolute highlight to witness in person! To end this first half of the set, the band has chosen tonight’s sole track from their painfully underrated Pulp Love Life: “Sunrise”. As a massive sun rises on the screen, Cocker whirls across the stage, finally taking his spot and gyrating wildly to the light, before striking a pose. The song ends, in a blaze of glory, and the band exits the stage…
… only to return 15 minutes later. As usual, the Berlin crowd is a bit rowdy when one tries to reclaim their old spot, but that’s hardly news, and my companion and me are elated to be back near the front – where we are welcomed by the four original members taking their spots by the barricades, and Jarvis dives into german. I will translate, mercifully: the band met in northern England prior to touring to discuss, if this was really a good idea. The four of them – Doyle, Webber, Cocker and Banks – started playing on piano, bongo, acoustic and electric guitar. According to Jarvis, the sound wasn’t great, but the songs “spoke to them”. And so, in this stripped down style, the four will play “Something Changed” – the audience is invited to sing along! But honestly, even while I sing along, I feel like it’s almost a sacrilege to add to such a beautiful rendition, as Jarvis’ voice is especially emotive here. The harmony of the moment is broken as the band returns to their spots and in darkness, the tube man shoot back up!
“The Fear” is menacing and acidic, as Jarvis uses his arm like a wizard, directing the massive tube men, hitting all the high notes! The band stays with the sinister sentiment, as the winner to the audience vote (there was an audience vote?) is announced: “Help the Aged”! “Well”, Jarvis explains, “What we didn’t say, if you voted for this one, umh… könnt ihr singen?” All the songs tonight, he explains, are in the original key, and he can still perform all of them… except the high falsetto of the chorus to this! “it makes the title slightly ironic – you are gonna help the aged now, OK?” The audience obviously agrees, and the oh-so-often icy Berlin audience thaws a little, also thanks to an especially rough guitar lead during the chorus!
Another great lead comes with the new track “Begging for Change”, where Jarvis announces he will be able to show off his guitar skills to the crowd. The track had passed me by, and I suspect also some others: a political rocker with Jarvis channeling his inner Hendrix for the intro, it’s a menacing track with a hint of Nick Cave machismo – really swell and ahead of the reserved atmosphere on More. It demands another album! Jarvis, now sweaty, uses the heated up mood to lead the audience into another singalong, this time for the proto-Britpop of “O.U.”. That dishevels the vocalist so much, he has to resort to some tea, which however is mostly is tossed in bagged form into the crowd: “Fruchtahmischung – dunno the fok that means…” (it’s “fruit selection”, Jarvis!). To the hijinks, the intro to “Acrylic Afternoons” starts rolling in – another surprising and very welcome choice! And Pulp stick with His’n’Hers, as they deliver what I would deem the highlight of the night: “Do You Remember the First Time?” Jarvis reminisces on the prior two (now three) Berlin shows, before delivering an incredibly spirited, tight, glammed up version of the track, which could double as Pulp’s very own “Heroes” moment, all build-up verses and sped-up chorus that explodes into the room with ferocity!
After passing some water into the audience (“If I pass this to you will you share it? Is that a yes?”), having the room lights turned on (“Hi! Thank you for coming here on the hottest night of the year so far.”) and applauding oneself for surviving the night, Jarvis dives into “Mis-Shapes” – the mood loosens, as people now start to actually dance a little bit, which continues during “Got to Have Love”! The band is now nearing the final stretch of the evening, and dive into the audience favourites: “Babies” is introduced with the surreal opening of the original music video and sees Jarvis climb the barricades, hollow body guitar in hand! Every bit as charming and sassy as back when, “Babies” proves to be the most underrated of Pulp’s big hits – it could be any other band’s best track! And it has Jarvis in a bit of a retrospective mood. Now drenched a little, he expands how each song is a bit like a child, and you send them out into the world to have kids of their own: “But they haven’t!” He explains that, once you play these songs at a concert, they come back to life – “Babies” is now over 30 years old, but in that moment, he realises, “it’s alive”. But what happens, he says, if he plays a song that has been played over and over, to hundreds of thousands of people? He gets the crowd fired up: “You know which song I am talking about? I’m talking about… “Nites of Suburbia”! The original version, not “Styloroc”, dwww dwww, dwww…” But luckily, a few seconds in, he abandons it (for lack of memory), and instead makes up with “Common People”!
If anyone had lost their voice at this point, they found it again. The crowd absolutely loses it – and for good reason! To my right, a few young teenagers scream along every word, while behind me, a man with grey hair is jumping an waving his arms – everyone lets loose, dances, screams along! As the song climaxes in its massive finish, the tube men rise, and all seems over, but yet – isn’t! “One more?” The crowd cheers, and Jarvis agrees: “Yeah, one more!” As the band makes their way to the front, Jarvis explains that at 38°C, maybe it’s a good thing when the day ends: “Berlin is a nighttime city, isn’t it? You can go out, it’s only after 10, it’ll be alright!”, and the band close out the night with an acoustic rendition of More‘s “Sunset”. But then, as the crowd cheers, Jarvis seems not quite satisfied! “OK, we haven’t played this song ever – maybe last century we played it, but not this century.” What? “We only tried this during a sound check – it’s “Love is Blind!” You may not know this song, it’s off the album Separations… that was a strange record… Be kind, if it doesn’t work now we’ll just forget about it!” Yeah, that is a massive surprise, and coming all the way from 1992, it is the oldest song of the night! The rendition is wonderful, highlighting that Separations is really not shabby at all! Aided by the full live band, the song indeed soars, and proves itself as worthwhile addition! And then, finally, the show ends, as Jarvis blows a kiss and bids the crowd a good night!
And yet, the Berlin night is just about to start! Outside, it rains, a little, which is very much welcome and refreshing! After a breather and a break, we are back inside, though – you see: there was a bit of a mix up! Originally, my companion this night was meant to do photos, but some serendipitous moment prohibited that, yet instead awarded us… entrance to the backstage! Well, why not!? There we are, on leather couches, giggling like school children, and for the second time, I collect some courage, and walk over. “Jarvis,” I start, “I really don’t want to bother you, but, well, 12 years ago, I ran into you, at 5am, at the Berlin airport…” He smiles, shakes my hand, and we chat. Sometimes, on some lucky days, the past is still alive! So go, see Pulp, while the night is still young! You’ll never know how many years it might take for a chance to present itself again…
