'before to be announced headliners'. Hmmm. I remember Reading 2002 when they were second on the bill to some bunch of shite - I think it was the Strokes? - & being pretty frustrated at the length of the set.

Also, the feild seemed to half empty after Pulp, which was nice! They're the natural headliners.

The point I'm trying to make is they really shouldn't be accepting gigs where they're second on the bill.
I actually think this is bad news.

It depends who the headliners are at Isle Of Wight. If it's someone which the stature of Paul McCartney I can understand why they'd be placed secod on the bill.

Glastonbury tend to book bands more for the quality of their live shows more than how many records they sell or how popular they are at any given time. It's also a larger festival with many more stages that IoW so if anything, (also remembering that they have almost been consider royalty at Glasto since 1995) They'd be more likely to be doing a headline slot there.

Having said that I think i'd prefer to see them headline The Other Stage rather than the Pyramid for the simple fact that it's a bit smaller and easier to get a good vantage point.

The NME cover article looks as though it's going to be a recourgitated and recycled nostagla piece. All very well but probably not worth running out and buying a copy of that old rag for!

I think the set from Reading/Leeds in 2002 was only 1 song shorter than when they went on last at that festival in 2000. However if I'd been there i probably wouldn't have been able to bring myself to watch The Strokes just due to it becoming a bit of an anti-climax, having just watched Pulp.

Cheers for the info liltman. That's a good point, a lot of next years festival headliners will have been contacted/promised specific spots by now. I wonder when Pulp were approached to do Wireless and how long they thought about it for. (The moment the promoters said ''Name your price'' a cynic might say. Where is Fuss Free anyway...don't think he's given his reaction to the reunion yet).

Second on the bill at a festival is still usually about 1 hr 15 set (in my experience anyway)

Surely, before you embark on all these huge festival dates some smaller warm up gigs are in order. Especially if you haven't played in such a long time.

Great! I hope you're right.
After being at Auto, & Jarvis' first propper solo gig at KOKO, I really don't want to miss the first reunion gig.

Just heard the news that it's the Foo Fighters who are headlining IOW

Oh that might be okay then - not really my thing, but they're a sound live band I could enjoy.
I'll see if any of my mates want to go - & if there's tickets left after payday lol.

Yes I bought it.

I haven't got a scanner I'm afraid though, but if nobody else has put anything up in a day or two I'll type up the most relevant bits for you (not the whole article, alot of it is going over old ground so little point).  No new quotes or anything I'm sorry to report, but it is a very positive article towards the comeback at least.

Edited version of article from NME:

"When the news hit that Pulp were reforming, it was met with a level of hysteria missing from other reunions. Leonie Cooper looks back at their history and explains why everybody still wants the Sheffield sex gods' babies.

Is this the chance to see the last truly inportant pop group this country ever produced? The question popped up in bold on Pulppeople.com last week, when the return of Sheffield's finest was announced.

The question ream cycles endlessly on the website, and since Pulps 2011 comeback gigs were revealed, these are just a few of the questions that have been firing across pub tables across the land.

Their reformation after nine years of inactivity is all of these things and more. Elagant, romantic and stylish, pulp might never have fought their way into the big Britpop two, but that's because Pulp were always a different class.

With the benefit of hindsight, it's possible that Pulp were the most important band to ever come under the Britpop banner. Deftly mixing poetry, personality and social comment and weaving them together with killer choruses and embracing both low-culture and the avant garde, Pulp were the perfect pop group for an era dumbed down by the rise of boorish blokeishness.

So just why will the coming together of the mid 90's line-up , last seen onstage in Barcelona in August 1996, just after their triumphant V96 shows - be so bloody amazing? frankly, it's hard to know where to start, but their sheer brilliance as a live band will probably do.

The fact that the most unique frontman of the 90's has never been out of the game will also go towards making these shows exceptional. instead of kicking back into chesse farming, Jarvis has been constantly pushing himself creatively. In addition to the electro doom of Relaxed Muscle, he's collaborated with Nancy Sinatra, Marianne Faithfull, Air, Richard X and um, oh yeah, Harry Potter.

As well as churning out his consistently brilliant solo work, he's also never stopped gigging. That he has since recorded with Steve Mackey and Mark Webber and played live with Candida Doyle is proof that chemistry and camaraderie between band members still exists, meaning there'll be no annoying 'where's Bernard Butler?' style situations. Also, the fact that Jarvis hasn't been blandly rehashing old Pulp favourites at his solo gigs means that these songs - and blimey, what songs they are - have been encased flawlessly in ice, ready to be defosted in time for summer 2011.

Also, thanks to his fantastic Sunday afternoon BBC6 Music radio show, Jarvis' national treasure status has been assured. Surely these gigs can only go enhance his legacy and make people realise what made him a treasure in the first place."

The article then goes back over Pulp's history, I won't type that up as there is nothing you don't already know. It ends:

"Yet Pulp's long road to success shaped them into consummate performers with wiser heads on their shoulders than the Britpop-era bands to whom fame and fortune came much more easily. Though far more intelligent - musically and lyrically - than most of their peers, for some bizarre reason Pulp were never held with the same reverence. This reunion will certainly change that. In fact, it already has."

The article is beefed out by pictures, a dream setlist (all the hits except mis-shapes, basically), some amusing Jarvis quotes from the past  and a mini article titled 'Should Pulp headline Glastonbury 2011?' which basically just remembers their Glastonbury 95 performance, describing it as 'the yardstick for what defines a winning turn on the Pyramid stage'.


-- Edited by Deebs on Sunday 28th of November 2010 11:53:48 AM

When did Jarvis and Webber work together during the former's solo career?

A prediction: They will play "Mis-Shapes." After all, Blur played "Country House" at their reunion gigs.

C'mon Pulp, where's this tour announcement lol!