Seeing them at Hyde Park was quite surreal for me. Ive waited for that moment for 16 years so i didnt really realise they were here in front of me. But I wish i saw them in 95 or 98 coz those shows were unique, i guess. The time, the place, the atmosphere.... Seing the officially released videos seem like it...

but that doesnt answer the question.

They have never played better. I asked Mark when he did Plenty after the Toulouse gig, and he agreed that he thought they sounded better than remembered.

''Better'' in terms of how well they played the songs, banter, stage presence etc. I imagine the summer was as good as ever.

But 1991-onwards, leading up to the glory days, the sense of excitement as a fan (i.e. ArrGee) watching the group still ascending in terms of pop stardom...well that's obviously impossible to replicate.

The band 2011-stylee are as good as ever I would imagine (without having ever seen them in the '90s but watched/heard countless recordings over the last decade) but the sense of ocassion when giddy stratospheres are about to be entered for the first time...that's surely the best part of the lifecycle of a pop group, both for the artist and fan.

As such, people who were lucky enough to see them in the 1990's, particularly up to 1995, are probably, consciously or not, comparing that period of their more carefree youth and devotion to the band to now when everyone, even the band themselves have become older and more pressing thoughts have emerged - mortality, kids, hairloss, negative equity, how viable renewable energies really are. Or other stuff... I don't want to find out for a few years yet. 

-- Edited by Eamonn on Monday 5th of December 2011 02:13:56 AM

Eamonn,

Very interesting idea, but I think I have to disagree. Yes, it's easy to look back at the first round of gigs and associate them with nostalgia, but if you think about little things such as being very socially insecure amongst a crowd of people, only two of whom you know when just turned 16 at V96, or - for various reasons - ending up at Birmingham 1998 in the pouring rain with people you don't know, or - again - watching them along (in the rain!) at Leeds 2002, etc. I'd much rather have had this year's experiences. Y'know, actually being able to afford somewhere to stay, being able to afford to see the amount of gigs I wanted to, even just being able to get to London (somewhere I didn't make it to properly 'til after my last 'original' Pulp gig for example!)

The only sadness nostaglia aspect it provokes in me is in wishing I'd been into them when I was 12/13 or something and having joined Pulp People then. But that's unfeasible 'cos I didn't really listen to anything that wasn't made between about 1962 and 1969 back then. And I'd have had no way of hearing anything Pulp had to offer back then.

So yeah, 2011 all the way. Apart from for recorded output, obviously!

Stephen wrote:

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... it's easy to look back at the first round of gigs and associate them with nostalgia.

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Pulp were an exciting band on their way up.  The main reason was that pretty much everyone who went to the gigs were into the band and there weren't people turning up to spectate.   

And as they weren't that popular, you could get right to the front to see them, especially when they were only a support band.  The only other time I went to see the support was when The Libertines supported Supergrass and Morrissey in two separate gigs.

I enjoyed the Hyde Park and the Brixton gigs this year more than any post Common People gigs where a band that was quite personal were suddenly known by all.   In those 1995 and 2001 gigs, the people I went with weren't really into Pulp and ended up somewhat distant from the stage.

All that said, I've never been to a bad Pulp gig, the dozen of so I have attended would all rank in my top 20 gigs of all time.

On a more general note, arent you annoyed by more and more people turning up to gigs just to chat with their friends ? It's something i noticed the past few years, some dont even watch the gig they're at !

"It seems a large percentage of the audience would like to watch the concert through the medium of their smartphone as well!"

Personally I love this. I stand there and I think "It's a terrible shame you're not enjoying the gig. But I am. And I look forward to downloading your video from youtube later. Thank you, random person".

I don't take a camera to gigs anymore. It's far easier to let anonymous people do the donkeywork :)

 

 

Very interesting thread.

Re: people chatting to friends and watching through their Smartphone I thought some of this might be due to their playing festivals but then I know some said there was people at the Brixton gigs doing the same. Some people perhaps just go to gigs just so they can say they were there.

 

I did see them in 1996 but as I said before I was only a child so I often wish I was older so I could have partaken in everything more fully. I dont mean alcohol or anything like that I just mean that I could have purchased all the bargain reissue CDs I saw at the time, buy up every single magazine, record everything, watch that interview at 1am. I did partake as much as I could though. I even have two pictures from 1996 at The Point (their show was part of the Feile) but Jarvis is just a little blue dot in them.

 

It was very different to Electric Picnic this year 'in many ways'. I remember walking along the quays in 1996 and the teenagers and early twenty-somethings with their flares and tight fitting v neck Pulp t-shirts. The mid-90s was a bit '70s fashion wise. The girls in the mini bus waving a Jarvis poster out the window at those of us walking. Nice feeling of unity I suppose ;) Bawl, Super Furries and Cast were on before Pulp and Pulp cam on at approx 9.50pm. I wish I could say something about how they sounded musically but I can't remember except to say I loved it. Freek uploaded a file of this gig recently though I think so you can check it out there. I can say, however, that it was a specific time and place because it was Cool Britannia back then after all and I really thought music would be that way forever.

In the interim period I saw Jarvis at Electric Picnic in 2007. Great gig. close to the front and people shouting for 'I Spy'.

Electric Picnic 2011 - perhaps more '80s fashion wise, more doom and gloom around, economic recession, a different audience who I thought were perhaps seeing Pulp for the very first time and didn't know much about them but might have been compelled to check them out after it. I know I enjoyed it equally as much as the first time but I would have liked to see them at their own gig. Can't praise the intro enough, great banter, musically great. Loved it. Wish I had been older for the '90s though and would like to know what pre-1995 was like.

 

I have an iPhone, i love it, but i would never get it out and record the gig. I'd rather live the thing then record it and watch it later. I really don't get those people. It's like they're living in the future all the time. The present time isn't good enough anymore.

ArrGee wrote:

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andy wrote:

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On a more general note, arent you annoyed by more and more people turning up to gigs just to chat with their friends ? It's something i noticed the past few years, some dont even watch the gig they're at !

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 It has always happened but is more noticable these days as gigs ain't as loud as they used to be.   At small venues when you are just there for a night out and the band are totally unknown, it's rare that anyone pays much attention.   I remember at university, pretty much every band that turned up was met with total indifference as people were only there to drink and pull.  However if you have forked out forty quid for a gig, it seems odd to just ignore it.

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 Yeah i'm talking more about those kinda sold out gigs where, you should theorically have die hard fans only. 

Back to topic, Pulp 2011 was something, but i would have loved to attend one of those gigs where Jarvis goes up and down on the stairs and hugs those band members cartons... ah well, i still have the official DVD. 

I've taken my camera to all pulp concerts and still appreciated them fully. What's more I know have over 500 photos of them performing and over an hour of footage which I can keep forever - I don't think people filming is too bad but people not listening and talking during the performance is extremely irritating

-- Edited by Jazza on Tuesday 6th of December 2011 05:54:56 PM