I used to live in Madrid and was looking forward to this, having had tickets since before the pandemic, the festival rolling over twice since then.

I arrived at about 9pm - with Jarv Is...due to play at 23:10 (I do love a leisurely festival) to be met by empty stages and wet ground. I'd been the previous night (Suede played) and the weather was perfect, 24c with a gentle breeze.

Turned out that while I had been travelling up to the festival on the underground, a thunderstorm had broke-out causing issues with the electrics at the festival. It meant things were halted for an hour or more and the band Kings Of Convenience had to duck-out and cancel their slot so that the night wouldn't overrun. Their fans were booing and the singer had to come out and explain/sympathise. He looked pissed-off himself, no wonder.

Anyway, Cocker and Co. came on at their scheduled time. The set was very similar to the winter tour. A new song was debuted (I think it was called "Locked Down"), a lot of semi-spoken lyrics, a great groove from the band and a refrain that reminded me a little of Leftovers from Further Complications. Sounded like there was a but if naughtiness in the lyrics too as you'd expect  They also played Proceed To The Route which they first performed in January at Butlins Bognor. A nifty little number. Was gutted that Slow Jam didn't get an outing, maybe 3 new songs for a festival set was one too many.

The set apart from that: the only Pulp song was the opener, She's A Lady. House Music, Missing Something, Pharaoh and the set-closer Must I Evolve from Beyond The Pale. Further Comps, Cunts and Big Julie rounded things off (not in that order).

There was a Spanish chap standing beside me wearing the Pulp/Sheffield Wednesday shirt that was made for charity a few years ago and I got chatting to him. There's something humbling about a dedicated fan (and he was a huge one), to whom English is not a first language and yet Jarvis' words mean the world. The fella did say that he wished Jarvis would acquiesce to doing at least one or two Pulp hits at festivals as its would really get the crowd going. In the event, the fans were up for it but the biggest cheers seemed to happen when the bum-wiggling and suggestive dancing came out, in full view on top of the monitors. Brett Anderson did similar in his own way last night. A timely reminder that both men have their arses in part to thank for their success. Jarvis was in good form and had an A4 sheet of some Spanish translations which he managed to mangle. 

I think a festival set is probably too subtle for something delicate like Big Julie though. Fat Children or Angela/I Never Said I Was Deep would have had the crowd amped more in my opinion. Was half-expecting Aline or something from the This Is Going To Hurt soundtrack but I'm glad they played two new Jarv Is... songs. The band sounded tight too. A good night all round, the rain mostly stayed off the plain after the initial downpour. A shame for the Kings Of Convenience though. More like The Fall Guys Inconvenienced.