19 h. ago Jarvis Cocker is Britpop’s ultimate comeback king in scintillating Pulp show

The band’s arena show at the O2 proves they are every bit as vital in 2025 as they were three decades ago

Politics

25 h. ago ‘Misshapes, mistakes, misfits’: Pulp’s signature secondhand style has stood test of time

Band’s ‘on the edge of kitsch’ aesthetic is still relevant three decades later as young people focus on vintage clothing Thirty years ago this month Pulp played the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury and took their reputation to another level. If part of this was due to a storming set taking in their new hit Common People, debuts for their future hits Mis-Shapes and Disco 2000, and the star power of singer Jarvis Cocker, it was also down to their look.There was Steve Mackay, bass guitarist, in a fitted shirt and kipper tie, Russell Senior on violin in a blue safari shirt, keyboardist Candida Doyle in sequins and – of course – Cocker, in his now signature secondhand 70s tailoring. Continue reading...

Politics

47 h. ago Pulp can finally bring Britpop back after it ran out of gas and they had 'fatigue'

Pulp's Jarvis Cocker got demoralized with Britpop in the 1990s after hoping for a revolution. They knew it was time to make a full comeback when new songs came fast on tour

Sport

6 d. ago Pulp review – Jarvis Cocker’s captivating comeback turns a rapt crowd rapturous

OVO Hydro, GlasgowOn a kitschy 1970s chatshow set, the Sheffield band play hits from across their career – and fans welcome their just-released album tracks like old friendsA thick velvet curtain cocoons the stage as a cool disembodied voice projects over the audience: “This is an encore. An encore occurs because the audience wants more.” Since their initial breakup in 2002, Pulp have re-formed twice, for sold-out tours and festival sets played to loyal, rapturous audiences. Tonight, the stakes are higher: for the first time in 24 years, Pulp have a new album, More, released just one day before tonight’s opening show. The audience want more – but do they want More?Any anxiety about new material is quashed when set opener and comeback single Spike Island is received like an old friend. Jarvis Cocker rises from the back of the stage flanked by cardboard cutouts of his bandmates – recognisable from the cover of 1995’s Different Class – before joining their real-life counterparts, guita...

Politics

9 d. ago Pulp sends 'important message' to fans heading to UK gigs as 'extended' set teased

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker has taken to Instagram to share the "important message" ahead of the tour starting

Politics

9 d. ago The most uncommon charm of Jarvis Cocker: 'Being working class is a different thing now'

One of the defining figures of 1990s Britain is back with his band Pulp. Older and wiser, he’s still got the elusive magic that made him one of pop’s most electric frontmen, writes Anna van Praagh

Politics

1 week ago On ‘More’, Pulp pick up precisely where their imperial phase left off

Band’s first album in 24 years accomplishes the transition between fan-settling familiarity and creative advancement

Politics

1 week ago Last gig at Sheffield’s Leadmill music venue to feature indie favourite

The well-known South Yorkshire venue is closing at the end of this month after losing a long-running battle with its landlord.

Events

1 week ago Pulp is back for 'More,' their first album in 24 years. Even the Britpop band is surprised

The singular Britpop band Pulp has returned

Culture

1 week ago Pulp: More review – anthems and rage for the next life stage

(Rough Trade)Jarvis Cocker and the band’s first album in 24 years delivers a refreshing take on middle age, with all the the skewed observation and joyful melodic flourishes of oldTime has been particularly kind to Pulp. As Jarvis Cocker points out on Spike Island, the lead single from their first album in 24 years, their 2002 split went largely unlamented: they had already succeeded in considerably reducing the size of their audience with 1998’s claustrophobic album This Is Hardcore and 2001’s Scott Walker-produced We Love Life. An ostensibly valedictory greatest hits album spent a single week in the lower reaches of the Top 75. And the year after their demise, John Harris’s Britpop history The Last Party noted tartly that Pulp’s music had “rather dated”. “The universe shrugged, then moved on,” sings Cocker, which is a perhaps more poetic reiteration of what he said at the time: the greatest hits album was “a real silent fart” and “nobody was that arsed, evidently”.But subsequent y...

Politics

1 week ago Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker says his writer’s block ‘led the band to grind to a halt’

The Britpop frontman was speaking to the Big Issue.

Politics

2 w. ago ADRIAN THRILLS reviews Pulp: More (Rough Trade): Britpop for grown

Fronted by a witty English eccentric in Jarvis Cocker, the Sheffield group secured their first Top Ten album with 1994's His 'n' Hers.

Politics

2 w. ago ADRIAN THRILLS reviews Pulp: More (Rough Trade): Britpop for grown

Fronted by a witty English eccentric in Jarvis Cocker, the Sheffield group secured their first Top Ten album with 1994's His 'n' Hers.

Politics

4 w. ago My cultural awakening: a Pulp song made me realise I was in love with my best friend

I was too afraid to confess my feelings and be rejected, until hearing Jarvis Cocker’s words gave me a moment of clarityThe first time Gordon and I kissed I thought we’d made a terrible mistake. It was 1995, we were both 20 years old, and we were drinking at our university bar in Leicester. We had formed a friendship over the previous three years, but I had never considered Gordon in a romantic light. He was a goth at the time, which I thought was very cool, and he had this fruity, posh voice – whereas I was a timid girl from south London with a terrible perm. I remember Gordon leaning in to give me this very innocent, tentative kiss, but it caught me off guard. I felt excited but also confused. For one thing, I’d only ever known Gordon to kiss his fellow goths.I avoided Gordon for weeks after that, which was difficult, considering we were on the same course. We bumped into each other almost every day in lectures but I made things awkward. Conversations between us didn’t flow i...

Culture