Declaring a ‘Pulp Summer time’ on the display screen behind them, the band appeared on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage for one more of the pageant’s “shock” performances.
Billed because the non-existent act Patchwork within the days beforehand, fans knew to expect something big – much like when The ChurnUps turned out to be the Foo Fighters in 2023.
A bunch of individuals mysteriously walked on to the stage in waterproof ponchos earlier than the “secret” was revealed and the Pulp homage to fellow Saturday evening performer Charli XCX’s Brat Summer time appeared on display screen.
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Like Lewis Capaldi’s unannounced set on Friday, everybody at Glastonbury knew who to anticipate by the point Jarvis Cocker and co started at 6.15pm, because of the bookies’ odds, “secret” sources and whispers across the pageant.
The Sheffield band have been welcomed with an enormous turnout on the pageant’s greatest stage.
Jarvis Cocker was welcomed with an enormous turnout on the pageant’s greatest stage. Pic: PA
In tribute to their headline efficiency in 1995, after they famously took over from The Stone Roses at quick discover, Pulp began with Sorted For E’s And Whizz after which straight into Disco 2000 – two songs performed stay for the primary time on this similar stage 30 years in the past.
“It was the very, very first time they have been performed – you would say they have been born in Glastonbury,” Cocker instructed the gang.
From the Mercury Prize-winning Completely different Class, the album that propelled Pulp to topping the charts and platinum gross sales, and one of the crucial critically acclaimed data of the Nineteen Nineties, the songs prompted a mass sing-along – and jump-along from an enthusiastic crowd who knew each phrase.
“My title’s Jarvis, that is Pulp,” Cocker introduced, simply in case anybody was in any doubt. “Sorry for individuals who have been anticipating Patchwork. Do you know that we have been going to play?”
Cocker mischievously requested crowds: ‘Do you know that we have been going to play?’ Pic: PA
After their Nineteen Nineties hits, the band launched into Spike Island, the lead single from Extra – their first album in 24 years, launched earlier this month.
It was a set stuffed with memorable moments – together with the Crimson Arrows flying over – and Cocker choosing up an acoustic guitar for the poignant One thing Modified.
Do You Keep in mind The First Time? And Infants additionally featured, earlier than the band in fact ended on their greatest hit – Widespread Folks.
Pulp’s look got here after keyboard participant Candida Doyle appeared to verify the band wouldn’t carry out on the pageant in a BBC interview beforehand, regardless of a lot hypothesis that they might fill one of many unannounced slots.
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Pulp carried out songs together with Sorted For E’s And Whizz, Disco 2000 and Widespread Folks. Pic: PA
“We wished to, simply because it is the thirtieth anniversary and that sort of factor, and so they weren’t ,” she mentioned. “After which we have been considering perhaps subsequent yr, after which they are not doing it subsequent yr.”
Together with the headliners and the Sunday afternoon “legends slots”, unannounced units from the likes of the Foo Fighters, The Killers, and Radiohead have grow to be a number of the most talked-about performances at Glastonbury in recent times.
In addition to Capaldi and Pulp, acts together with Lorde and Haim have additionally popped up as “secrets and techniques” this yr.
Pulp have a historical past of surprises on the pageant, having carried out a secret set on the Park Stage in 2011 following their first hiatus.
Shaped in 1978, they launched three albums within the Eighties and early ’90s earlier than discovering mainstream success with 1994’s His And Hers.
Completely different Class got here 18 months later in October 1995 and Pulp turned large, helped in no small half by their memorable efficiency at Glastonbury earlier within the yr.
Thirty years later, they’ve entered the pageant’s historical past books as soon as once more.
