Do I Remember the Second Time?
Most people think about the first time they saw Pulp live when they sing "Do you remember the first time?" Mine was 1994 and it was in the SFX in Dublin, 5 days before Common People was released. I was a mis-shaped, misfit, and the gig changed my life. Where I went to school, everyone wore Global Technicolour t-shirts and chewed the insides of their mouth. They weren't actually on ecstacy, it seemed to be a cool thing to do. I left my classmates to their raves and went to watch bands like Fluffy and the Bluetones. But it wasn't until Pulp's SFX gig, where I felt home with 800 other indie kids.
I watched them a couple of years later in the Point and there were many many more kindred spirits in the crowd by then. I've seen them a few times when they've come to Ireland (though I skipped the post-This is Hardcore gigs, to my regret.)
However, "Do you remember the first time?" took on a different meaning this year. Ten years after their last gig, after which I didn't sleep for three days (due to non-chemically induced ecstacy) they were back, for their This is What We Do for an Encore tour. Rozz and I booked into a hotel in Dublin, had a drink, and we were ready for action! Long story short, Rozz and I aren't drinkers, and we had forgotten the adage of never mixing grape with grain. There is video evidence of us having the greatest night of our lives. The next morning, I logged on to Ticketmaster to see if I could find any way to see them again so I wouldn't live in eternal regret.
All the dedicated Pulp gigs had long sold out so I found myself paying way over the odds to see them at TRNSMT, an annual festival in Glasgow.
Glasgow is a cool city, famous for this statue and this square with loads of statues, ☝🏼 but that was not important. I had this 👇🏼
I stayed in the Crown Plaza hotel and checked in. I'm almost certain they had no idea what they were doing when they were allocating my room but I very much appreciated the gesture.
My room didn't have a bolt across the door. Just as well.
Pulp weren't playing until after 9pm but I thought it would be a good idea to go a bit early so whipped on my His n Hers t-shirt that nobody recognises as a His n Hers t-shirt. With the pang of double wines still fresh in my memory, I thought that I may as well get some value out of my ticket, and get there early enough. Paul Heaton of Housemartins and Beautiful South fame was playing at 4:30 so I thought that would be a good time to start.
The strongest thing that passed my lips was Us+Them coffee and Scran's chicken shawarma. The woman at the box office strapped my silver grey band to my wrist and in I went.
My game plan was to ensure I got as close to the stage as possible for Pulp without having to stand through Niall Horan and George Ezra so I did my test run for Paul Heaton.
I really enjoyed his set and I knew quite a few of the songs. I ended up standing beside a guy with a Union Jack hat who booed Heaton when he sang "F**k the King" and revealed his co-singer's football team was Celtic. I had my line "I support Patrick Thistle" ready even though I haven't even looked at the Scottish League table since the 1990s. Heaton sang a good few Beautiful South and House Martin's songs. He ended with Caravan of Love, which was great.
As planned, I skipped Niall Horan completely in search of food but walked by the stage as he was covering a Tears for Fears song, which probably would have been tolerable had I have bothered standing in the pit. I watched a band on the King Tut stage, mainly a refuge for older people trying to drown out Horan but gave up after a few songs. I found myself some grub and someone smiled at and commented on my t-shirt (FINALLY!) To celebrate I grabbed my first beer and sat on a picnic table. I had a lovely chat with the people sitting there and before I knew it my phone binged a notification. One hour to go. Time for my masterplan.
I calculated that George Ezra fans would not be Pulp fans so I decided to hang out at the edge of the first few rows for the last 3 songs of his set. I knew two of the songs and it didn't make me like him any more or less than I had before. I possibly tapped my toe to the chorus of his last song, the one about yellow and green, which might be about one of the wires in a plug? Anyway, once he had cleared off, hordes of teenagers changed places with people my age. It seems I was not unique in my plan. I found myself squashed between two friends who were now in their 40s and a very young couple who seemed to like Pulp a lot. Although there were more very young people there than I'd have liked, I was happy enough with that. I chatted to a few of them who kept listing other bands they thought I might like.
One thing I remembered from Dublin was to keep an eye on the screens on the sides of the stage as the beginning of I Spy began.
And just like Dublin, up popped Jarvis...
It was as joyous as I don't remember the first time being. The setlist was pretty much the same (minus Razzamatazz) and it basically filled in the gaps of the forgotten evening. After I Spy, Disco 2000 got everyone going, partially because it was one of two songs that the young people knew.
I learned one of the women I met also had Something Changed as her wedding song. She cried all the way through it. I missed Rozz being there.
Another thing I noticed was that I was bopping a lot more than most of the people around me. I think that might have been the difference between the first gig and this one. There were a lot of people there that didn't know Pulp that well. I didn't care. I happily took on the "annoying old man trying to relive his youth" role.
There were too many highlights to mention. I videoed a little bit of "Mis-shapes" for Emrys because it's his favourite song. "Do you remember the first time?" took on its new meaning for me, and it was followed by Babies, which was just amazing. I was slightly relieved when Sunrise started because I thought I was going to faint from all my jumping. I imagine the people around me were too. I never realised what a brilliant song that was. Weeds and Pink Glove were also surprise highlights. "This is Hardcore" was stunningly good and also gave me a break from jumping but "Sorted for Es and Whizz" got me bouncing again. Nobody was chewing their inner mouth.
I'm not quite sure why but Jarvis sang Happy Birthday to Ringo Starr and threw chocolates at the crowd to celebrate World Chocolate Day. Even more puzzling, he read a poem.
I didn't recognise it. My guess is that he googled "very short Scottish poem" and that was it.
On God the Tree’s Scottish branch new buds grow. The feeblest prove it is no dead stick. You flower and fruit, drop seeds that take root.
The encore was the same as Dublin. I was surprised by how many people knew Like a Friend. I didn't really know it that well. Maybe young people knew it from a film it was in? As the crowd got restless for Common People, I knew Underwear was coming first and I was possibly the most excited person in the crowd. Jarvis may have introduced it as foth-éadaí in Dublin but I don't remember. It didn't matter, it was perfect for the song everyone was waiting for. Like it or not, even if this was the only song most people were here for, there's nothing like standing with thousands of people belting it out. Jarvis teased the crowd asking had he left a song out and suggested "Pencil Skirt" before he gave everyone what they wanted. It was pure pure joy. Complete with fireworks, we chanted "I wanna live with Common People like you" over and over again, and I hoped we'd never stop. La la, la la la la la, oh you. The stage flashed. And then it was over.
I said my goodbyes to my new friends and off I walked to my hotel, back to the 15th floor, the music buzzing in my ears all night. I might not have remembered the first time, but I'll never forget the second.
2087
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