When the streamers erupted from Jarvis' hand held cardboard canister as Russell Senior delved into the first chorus of Mis-Shapes I knew the following performance would be magnificent, and it was. The only way to explain how joyous the entire event made me feel would be for you to imagine Jarvis' open arms embracing a small puppy or ironing children's blankets in a gingham apron. What an elegant man, I just want to live inside his shirt pocket or be his lung. Seeing him indulge in sensual, twirling, risque, racy, cabaret like dance moves for This Is Hardcore was truly thrilling and will orbit my mind for years to come, excluding the lack of Acrylic Afternoons and Lipgloss the entire setlist was perfect. After the strip tease to F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E, after the klaxons and smoke machines to Sorted for E's & Wizz, after the gyrating on top of amplifiers for Pink Glove and after the torch yielding audience search for I Spy there was Jarvis in velvet flares balancing on a pair of speakers scanning the sweating, grinning, Pulp t-shirt wearing audience from behind those signature glasses. In his delightful Sheffield whisper he begins another memorable speech that every thousandth person clings to as if it were being read from sacred parchments."My mum's here tonight and has asked me to dedicate this song to her, you'll all think it's a bit creepy when you hear the lyrics but she'll kill me if I don't do it. This is for my son too cause he's here as well, actually, it goes out to all of us cause we were all babies once." I crumbled at that point.
A charming explanation of 'Underwear' ensues in the anecdote "You sober up in the taxi and wonder whether or not to follow through with the evening just to be polite" and then the confetti falls again and everything is magical. White tissue paper is swirling round the air, everyone feels elated, the entire night has been spectacular then we hear "My name is Jarvis Cocker and I want to live with common people like you" It's all wonderful.
Pulp was honestly the best gig of my life and I can't even explain it, Jarvis hasn't escaped my thoughts for days and I've been smiling unhealthy amounts. I even pretend he's somehow transformed into the people around me and just eating lunch. We could write prose literature, go to the opticians, eat felafel's, it would be great. I'm kidding, I just admire his lyrical skill and energy and feel extremely happy to have witnessed so many of Pulp's incredible songs in what they said felt like their 'homecoming gig' all I can say is that 'I seem to have left a very important part of my brain somewhere in a field in Central London'