Pulp: Reading 2011

Synopsis

"Do you remember the first time?" asks the big screen on the main stage, just before Pulp arrive. Many up the front were but a twinkle when Sheffield's finest debuted Common People here, back on this day in 1994 – "Who was here?" questions Jarvis. "Who was born?" Not that it appears to dampen anyone's ardour – and who can blame them, because this is an imperious set, ranging from a perfect F.E.E.L.I.N.G C.A.L.L.E.D L.O.V.E to a glorious Misshapes, its line about "The future that they've got mapped out/ Is nothing left to shout about" sounding more contemporary than ever. Jarvis jumps from towering speaker cabinets, lies horizontal for some athletic hip-thrusting during a torrid This Is Hardcore, and dedicates Joyriders to "the rioters", quipping "they weren't rioting, they were just playing Grand Theft Auto outdoors". Honestly, it's hard to imagine how their reformation could have been handled any better.