me, my wife and friend weren't the only people there going mad to the "oldies" section?! We're we're stood quite near the front at the left and I can't believe the lack of atmosphere to those songs!
When Jarvis did his little speech about not knowing how to put the setlist together for a show like this and he said something like 'should we only play songs people haven't heard' everyon around me (I was stood a few rows back in between Jarvis and Steve) everyone shouted 'NO' and I thought right that's how it is eh? You would have thought Countdown was the most obscure song ever given the lack of people singing along round me but I thought that was fucking ace. Song of the night for me.
Those gigs attracted both casual and hardcore Pulp fans. In Paris, those obscure songs were met by some smartphone opening and SMS sending... That's why i wish they would go on, to do gigs for the "real" fans, although ive got nothing against casual fans.
I agree with you andy, I can't help but feel like a 'real' fan while some there were only casual 'fans', the problem is you always seem like a bit of a nob when you say something like that!
Saw 119. Don't : gigs tend to attract more and more people in need of a night out more than for the music. We've had that debate in another thread. It seems to be a growing phenomenon or maybe it is much more obvious now that those people have entertainment in hand at gigs.
In the 90s, what could you do if you didnt know Countdown ? Look at your feet, talk to your friend (with loud music over it, so no easy) or watch the band. Now there's Facebook. It's not being a snob, it's the sad truth. When i'm at a gig, even if i don't know all the songs, i don't reach out to my iPhone every 5 mins. I get to know what i don't know. But i feel like some people go to gigs now only for familiar stuff.
We were disappointed by how few people knew the 'older songs' most of the people around us only went mental (safely mental that is) to the usual suspects. We heard most the soundcheck whilst queuing so we had a bit of a sneak preview of what was going to be played ....however some of the songs they sound checked they didn't play!
Yeah, no one around me really knew them. My sister when to the toilets during Little Girl (not with the intention of missing the song I should add) and it took her until the end of Countdown to get back the queues were so long. Most people around me sat down for these ones. To be fair Jarvis was probably drowned out by the sound of me singing along :P I literally didn't miss a word all night so my throat is killing today.
I think there is some truth in the "going to a gig for the night out" thing. I was behind two girls in the queue who were talking to a bloke and reeling off all the gigs they'd been to and the ones they wanted to tick off next - I got the impression they weren't massive fans but were going for the experience. They didn't seem too enthralled about the prospect of the home movies either! Could be wrong, could have Freaks on vinyl for all I know... In contrast, not that much further ahead of us was someone who I think I heard say had been queuing six hours (someone from here?) Guess there was a real mix and they had to try to keep all folk happy. Think they did a pretty fantastic job!
There weren't many folk near me going mental to Countdown like I was but it was still brilliant to hear it, and the classics got them up and dancing for a few songs at least. Loads of songs I'd love to have heard but you can't have everything.
The 2 blokes next to me didn't know a lot of the less well-known songs, at one point I heard one say to the other, "that's another one I don't know". I know what you mean about people going for a night out, the whole music industry is probably having to focus more on the live experience with sales of recorded music being less reliable. But whilst that is true in general, yoiu would have had to have been pretty committed surely to get your tickets in that 10 minute window on a Friday morning that they were on sale for. Or do a lot of people get them on the secondary market?
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We'll use the one thing we've got more of, that's our minds.
I & most people around me standing near the front, stage right were a bit older. I wore myself out dancing & singing to the opening bit and gave the older songs a good respectable listening to as did most around us... However, this is nothing!!! My mate, who is an idiot & was at a stag do the day before, actually fell asleep! He was sitting right at the back but I reckon he should have gave his ticket to somebody else instead!
I was a bit disappointed that Jarvis felt the need to kind of "apologise" that they were going to play a few old songs. "We are going to do a bit of time-travel...if that's okay?". He often does that. He still obviously worries that people are going to be bored. I just think that, rather than keeping them to a "segment" and down-playing them, they should just disperse them amongst the set just like all the other songs. Also...even my girlfriend (a casual fan) was surprised that the time-travel segment consisted of three songs. She thought they would do at least half an hours worth.
But yeah...most people didn't know them obviously. There were folk who did, but they were few and far between. Spotted a few other people near me singing along to Little Girl (With Blue Eyes) so I didn't feel completely alone.
Enjoyed the gig on the whole, but did leave with a sense that they had "played it safe". Fair enough I suppose...but I reckon that OU, She's A Lady and maybe one or two other nuggets could have replaced the likes of "A Little Soul", "Help The Aged" or a couple of the Different Class album tracks and received a similarly warm-reception?
Me and my friend Andrea were going mad for the old songs, but like you say there were a lot of blank faces. I think maybe it would've been better to intersperse them with the rest of the set rather than having a section. Also, Lighthouse and Little girl perhaps aren't very instant songs - some Death comes to town/Death II/His n' hers might've worked better.
WHY OH WHY can't they do some album gigs that are so popular these days. A residency at a medium sized venue with a couple of albums each night followed by some greatest hits.
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If you didn't come to party then why did you come?
I also don't understand why they feel the need to keep on drawing attention to material from an earlier period. It only makes the casual fan turn off, mix it up make it seem like those songs are as fabulous as the ones they know (like we know they are), make them feel as though they've been missing out. There's a wealth of Pulp material that still deserves a greater widespread appreciation.
I agree that a lot of people seem go to gigs just for a night out or so they can say they were part of a big event like last night. The two blokes stood next to me (I mentioned them in the other thread ) kept taking photos of themselves and generally seemed to be texting and stuff most of the night. Their attitude seemed to be " I don't know these songs, so I'm not going to listen." Couldn't help but feel that they just wanted to upload their photos to Facebook to show "they were there." It's the same at the big festivals these days too, the music seems secondary to some people. Luckily there were loads of genuine fans in the crowd last night too!
I thought Countdown got a tremendous reaction (in terms of applause at the end) in fairness. The arrangement of it now is so good. Highlight of the night for me was Sheffield:Sex City. Fucking incredible. And for an obscure, lengthy ode to the city's nocturnal habits, again it was received very well. Unfortunately, twelve or thirteen thousand people aren't going to know all the songs so it was a difficult balance to keep. I was delighted to hear a bit more from This Is Hardcore which has generally been ignored quite a lot during the reunion. Help The Aged sounded particularly good, I thought. A couple more from His'n'Hers and We Love Life and it would have been perfect...which is what we might have got had the planned set-list been followed. But Jarvis' talking is all part of the Pulp experience so I can't knock him for that.
Sorry I didn't see any of you at the venue. We were sitting in the first tier right at the back. Although I'm sure I spotted some Pulp fans on my tour of Sheffield on Friday (if you saw a woman in a green woolly hat with blonde hair and cat's eye specs and a grey cost with a giant sparkly green octopus brooch that was me!). 15 yr old son loved it. His highlight was Countdown! I thought This is Hardcore was brilliant but destroyed by the idiot in front of me who kept broke the spell by getting up again for one of his frequent beer runs. Delighted to hear Help the Aged. Though FEELING CALLED LOVE was wonderful. So glad I made the trek from Cornwall but not enjoying the 6.5 hr journey home on an overcrowded late running Crosscountry train with no loos working!
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Her house was very small with woodchip on the wall
Eamon, son was furious I didn't take him to Brixton and was a nice opportunity to give him a break from his GCSEs and spend some time with him. I'm amazed he's not sick of Pulp (my daughter hates them, esp Jarvis) but he genuinely like them. Plus he may apply to do Film at Sheffield Hallam so he got a sense of the city. I would have taken him to see ABC do Lexicon of Love next week as well if I'd had the time (husband loathes them and can't see how I can possibly like them AND Pulp). BTW do wish that Pulp would consider playing whole albums, esp TiH.
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Her house was very small with woodchip on the wall
