Pulp at Sidney Myer Music Bowl;
MUSIC
Pulp ★★★★★
Sydney Myer Music Bowl, March 3
The Pulp show in Melbourne is a rare event, not seen since 2011 and before that in 1998. Some people are out for the blood moon tonight. I’m going to Pulp.
Senior members Jarvis Cocker, Candida Doyle, Mark Webber and Nick Banks and a few touring members are surrounded by the half-dozen inflatable dancing men you see outside car dealerships – I think they look a bit like Cocker’s dance.
They open with Sorted by E’s and Wizz and then go straight in Disco 2000 – probably the best opening punch or two I’ve ever seen at a live show. Cocker, a skinny and flexible 62-year-old, throws himself onto the stage with almost no hesitation. His voice has lost none of its breathtaking brilliance.
Pulp’s strength lies in the fact that, unlike their Britpop peers, they have never been inherently youthful. They were already in their 30s by the time they reached their 90s, and Cocker always seemed out of time. He is a storyteller and a casual documentarian. He’s glam rocker Alan Bennett, disco ball Mike Leigh. Skinny, self-possessed, horny.
Inside Disco 2000 And Do You Remember the First Time?Youth already sounds like a distant memory, filled with longing and excitement. babiesAn excellent short story about voyeurism, it captures the raw sexuality of adolescence in all its weirdness and disgust.
seedy, red-light lament this is hardcore brings this filth into the adult world, where Cocker lies down on a couch, then writhes onstage: “This is the eye of the storm / This is what men in stained raincoats pay for / But this place is pure”.
Nineties hits form the basis of the set but pretty great new album More (2025) also takes a look with the tracks Virgo Island, I must have love and sweet Farmers Market They keep to themselves. even newer I Beg for ChangeThe song, recorded for the War Child charity, will be released on Friday.
But it was the marginalized anthems that won the night. Wrong ShapesStrangers “fed on broken biscuits” inherit the world and the set moves ever closer Ordinary PeopleThey both carry a lot of anger and resentment about class tourism.
During Wrong Shapes overflowing with joy and anger Ordinary People It grapples with disco synths and evolves into something complex and thoughtful. “You’ll never understand / How it feels to live your life / With no meaning or control.” Still going strong more than 30 years later.
As I walk out the door, I see the last remnants of the blood moon, a gray-orange stain in the sky. A natural phenomenon that only occurs once every few years. Pulp hasn’t played here for 15 years. I know which one to remember.
Reviewed by Will Cox
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Will Cox writes fiction and art criticism. Lives in Merri-bek.
