Pulp-Hyde Park-3rd July 2011.

The crowd wait in anticipation as Cocker and Co tease the crowd with messages, lasting about 10 minutes, on a massive curtain covering the stage before finally showing the message of “okay let’s do it” “Do you remember the first time”. This was Pulp’s obvious opener and title of their festival built tour. This caused 60,000 people to erupt and jump around shouting every word at the top of their voice.

Being at Hyde Park can either improve or destroy a gig, for Pulp their was no better venue, it can hold 60,000 people, so when Pulp play, love song “Something Changed” you could barely hear Jarvis Cocker. This is what Pulp needed as it is a comeback tour. Jarvis described the concert as a “sort of hometown concert” he then went on to explain that most of the songs Pulp have written are about London and the differences between London and Sheffield. Also the location of this gig was perfect for Pulp, as they were close to the “1 Hyde Park” this triggered obvious class system jokes leading into the set closer “Common People”. The performance of Common People was unbelievable, the atmosphere was incredible, everyone was moving mentally and shouting every word, there was confetti during it as well, there is no better way to finish a set than with that. The sound at Hyde Park was surprisingly good, which Pulp was lucky with as it can be very risky playing Hyde Park because sometimes the sound isn’t up to scratch. The lighting was very nice; every song had an individual lighting and colour, which looked basic but good, this accompanied a big sign saying “PULP” making Cocker make jokes about the crowd’s ability to read. The lighting was the best for song “This Is Hardcore” it had a sort off Japanese feel to it, Jarvis banging a huge gong obvious complimented the lighting. The crowd participation was perfect, when Mr. Cocker spoke to the crowd they responded enthusiastically, the females screamed for Cocker’s every move, the most screams were for Jarvis’ dance moves on classic “Underwear”, I think even I screamed like a girl. Their was jumping on every single song, mostly for hit “Mis-Shapes” this song has a sort of tune to it which gives you a way to jump and the timing to do it at, so always causes a lot of jumping in a crowd, was a great performance. If the gig was slower at some points, the fans of 60,000 made up for it by singing it back to Cocker and Co, this being shown on “Bar Italia”, which was a surprising bonus to the set, which caused a great atmosphere. Most songs actually brought the hairs on the back of my neck up; it was a very emotional gig. Jarvis said midway in the gig “respect to you guys, you were the first people to buy tickets for Pulp as this was the first show announced” this shows it was always going to be the best atmosphere for a Pulp gig. It was 60,000 true fans who caused an incredible atmosphere.

Before this gig I was beyond excitement, I’ve always loved Pulp from a young age but never really got the chance to see them, so this gig was important for me. During the concert I couldn’t believe how good they actually were, they were instrumentally and vocally phenomenal and the energy from Cocker caused a great energy from the crowd at Hyde Park. I was just admiring Cockers every move, I think he is the best front man in the world. When I left I felt Pulp were EVEN BETTER than I expected, which I couldn’t believe!

This was the best gig I have ever been to. This is due to one man and one man only, Mr. Jarvis Cocker. I know I’ve gone on about him but he is an amazing individual who made this show. He danced and jumped around with so much energy, he shot confetti out of a tube, located by his crutch, he spoke to the crowd perfectly, made them laugh, got them excited for each song, and he was vocally excellent as well. He also broke down the fourth wall in his show as well, he got heavily involved with the crowd at one point when he shone a torch into a lucky male and females face for creepy classic “I Spy”. This was my favourite performance of the evening; I think it sums up everything I’ve said was good about Cocker on this evening apart from the confetti. It was creepier than when he used to perform this song as he is 48 now, this only made things better. He sounded best vocally on this song as he conquered the tricky parts of the song. The set list was excellent, would have been a perfect set list if Razzmatazz was involved. These support artists weren’t great, The Horrors were good, it was good to hear some of their new material, The Hives were excellent and were a great warm up for Pulp because of their energy. I think the less said about Grace Jones, the better. She’s the reason this gig wasn’t perfect.

Rating: Pulp without Grace Jones taken into account: 10.

             Pulp with Grace Jones taken into account: 9.5.