Russell: I dont know if I put this in the book - but there was - I was going through old setlists and theres one time we were playing Bradford, and we were playing London the night after and the setlist was more than half different between the two - just in case somebody from Bradford came to the London one and in actual fact three or four did I remember a carload of people did. So it was really good to be able to, you know: There's seventy people in the audience and those four people are getting a, kind of a, you know, a newer experience than just, We're trotting this stuff out, so were all, kind of, into that kind of thing. I mean obviously that gets chipped away at the edges off. But as I say, I dont think weve ever played the same set twice might have ended up by rotating round by changing a song each night you might have come back to something you played before - but I'm not aware of having played the same setlist twice.
Stephen: I would've thought by the time sort of, the middle of 96 the sets would have been quite similar.
Russell: They were.
Stephen: Cos the first time I saw you at V96 and I think it was everything from Different Class apart from Bar Italia and maybe...
Russell: Yeah. But it changed the night after.
Stephen: Right.
Russell: You know, even if its only one song [laughs]. Im not saying it was a completely different new take, but that we still kept a sense of trying to, OK, if youve seen us last night youre going to get something new, it might not be a lot at that stage but, [laughs] you know.
-- Edited by Zurdta on Sunday 2nd of July 2023 11:40:20 AM
Russell: You know, even if its only one song [laughs]. Im not saying it was a completely different new take, but that we still kept a sense of trying to, OK, if youve seen us last night youre going to get something new, it might not be a lot at that stage but, [laughs] you know.
-- Edited by Zurdta on Sunday 2nd of July 2023 11:40:20 AM
It's nice that they were thinking about this all that way back! Applying it to this tour: as I was at Brid, I'm not expecting anything new for TRNSMT, but you never know.
They played the same setlists at Dublin and Finsbury, but in a different order (Finsbury had "Razzmatazz" as a second encore, while Dublin had it 5 songs in). The IOW Festival didn't have it, and I'd imagine that's going to be their standard festival set for TRNSMT and Latitude. Warrington also had that setlist, but with "Dishes" instead of "Mis-Shapes".
Ever the idealist, Sir Senior. I can imagine how the "routine'' of it all became wearing after a solid year of touring (autumn '95 to summer '96).
And I think he and Jarvis in particular always want(ed) to make each live show special - how the stage looked, Jarvis' in-between patter...but when the songlist setlist stays static over a long run of shows...well, you can kind of see why they've only done 527 gigs in 43 years!
3 months touring the US in 96'/'97 trying to "make it" over there would probably have broken them. They weren't cut out for it and I'm glad. They're special humans.
Ever the idealist, Sir Senior. I can imagine how the "routine'' of it all became wearing after a solid year of touring (autumn '95 to summer '96).
And I think he and Jarvis in particular always want(ed) to make each live show special - how the stage looked, Jarvis' in-between patter...but when the songlist setlist stays static over a long run of shows...well, you can kind of see why they've only done 527 gigs in 43 years!
3 months touring the US in 96'/'97 trying to "make it" over there would probably have broken them. They weren't cut out for it and I'm glad. They're special humans.
I've not listened to the tapes of my 2015 interview ever, but that 'completely' in "I'm not saying it was a *completely* different new take" is something I can still picture/hear so clearly.
Moves are afoot with all of this, which is probably quite obvious, but it's taken people with more dedication than me to make it happen. I asked Zurdta if, given the recent setlist...inertia...they would dig out the appropriate Russell quote for me. That's the context. Thanks again, Zurdta!
Russell: You know, even if its only one song [laughs]. Im not saying it was a completely different new take, but that we still kept a sense of trying to, OK, if youve seen us last night youre going to get something new, it might not be a lot at that stage but, [laughs] you know.
Worth bringing this back because, as much as I adored Pulp at TRNSMT - I mean, it was a 5-star gig, absolutely fantastic...
...they've now played the exact same setlist for three consecutive shows in a row.
This didn't happen at all last tour; a couple of identical setlists were played in a row but only in different countries.
I wonder if the same setlist is because of all the new folk involved? I think from memory when they came back in 2011 they said they rehearsed a lot of songs - I suppose muscle memory and being the creators of those songs you're not learning from scratch. Having said that the new people appear to be 'proper' musicians and more adept at taking on learning a back catalogue. I was looking over photos and diary entries from 2011 when they played here in Australia and I remember lining up with others outside Festival Hall in Melbourne and we could hear them sound checking 'Sylvia' of all things. To everyone going and reporting back on these most recent gigs - it makes for wonderful reading!!!! Thank you very very very much.
-- Edited by cutcopy on Monday 10th of July 2023 12:50:09 AM
I wonder if the same setlist is because of all the new folk involved? I think from memory when they came back in 2011 they said they rehearsed a lot of songs - I suppose muscle memory and being the creators of those songs you're not learning from scratch. Having said that the new people appear to be 'proper' musicians and more adept at taking on learning a back catalogue. I was looking over photos and diary entries from 2011 when they played here in Australia and I remember lining up with others outside Festival Hall in Melbourne and we could hear them sound checking 'Sylvia' of all things. To everyone going and reporting back on these most recent gigs - it makes for wonderful reading!!!! Thank you very very very much.
-- Edited by cutcopy on Monday 10th of July 2023 12:50:09 AM
Wow, Sylvia made it to soundcheck in 2012? I know that they soundchecked TV Movie in, I think, Sydney?
They certainly revisited Hardcore after Russell left - they'd already played 3/4 of the singles in 2011 (with HTA and PH only in shows without him), plus Like a Friend - then they also performed A Little Soul, Dishes, The Fear, Glory Days and Born to Cry in 2012.
On the last tour, they also played all of Different Class + Mile End, all of His 'n' Hers (plus the track of the same name) except for Happy Endings/SLTM/David's Last Summer, Sunrise/BCV/Birds/Trees/Wickerman, Razzmatazz, O.U, Sheffield: Sex City, 59 Lyndhurst Grove, Countdown, Don't You Want Me Anymore?, Dogs Are Everywhere, Little Girl, Back in LA, and My Lighthouse.
-- Edited by lipglossed on Monday 10th of July 2023 01:06:41 AM
Might it also be to do with the complexity of staging for individual songs? You can't so easily just drop a new one in. I'm surprised they haven't kept After You in, it went very well in Brid.
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We'll use the one thing we've got more of, that's our minds.
Might it also be to do with the complexity of staging for individual songs? You can't so easily just drop a new one in. I'm surprised they haven't kept After You in, it went very well in Brid.
Yeah, that's very true.
Agree about After You, especially seeing as it's fairly (for Pulp anyone) recent! Dishes got dropped quickly, too.
-- Edited by lipglossed on Monday 10th of July 2023 01:13:03 AM
Yeah a whole lot more visuals and graphics this time around. Its almost like a set.
lipglossed - re: Melbourne soundcheck - Yes it was really strange because its muffled and I then I realised they're playing Sylvia. Not a favourite personally but it was almost like eavesdropping. They also sound checked Help the Aged as well which didn't get much of a run last time I don't think??
I cant remember Sydney soundcheck but I do remember sitting in my car and parking and thinking wow that's Mark Webber. He obviously walked or got a taxi because the Hordern is not really that central. I couldn't believe the day had arrived that I was seeing a hometown Pulp gig. It was an extraordinary day.
Age = it's all bullshit really. Yesterday me and some mates went to a karaoke night at a pub in town, and got propositioned in the smoking area by a couple of fortiesomethings in an 'open relationship'... who then started telling us about how they'd met through fetish subculture! Afterwards I walked back in and did Razzmatazz - maybe Hardcore would've been more appropriate..."that goes in there" indeed...
Anyway, the point of that story is that you can, in fact, teach dogs of any age new tricks. Although rather you than me.
-- Edited by lipglossed on Thursday 13th of July 2023 01:08:41 AM
Where the heck have you found that has Razzmatazz for Karaoke and more to the point, how did your version go down?
While you were performing did a random bloke stop at your group of mates and ask "What's that he's singing? Is he with you?"
And did they witheringly sigh-reply "Yes...he likes obscure shit..."
Yeah, it was a pub in Edinburgh! One of the guys who runs the karaoke night loves Pulp, and they have a massive song index. You can find karaoke tracks for all sorts of songs! I think folk were actually getting into it... but then wot do I know
