Rain didn't dampen Brit-pop royalty Pulp's Brisbane concert masterclass last night.
The British art-rock legends have returned to Australia for the first time since 2013, and kicked off their tour in style at The Riverstage on a slightly rainy Tuesday night (24 February).
While they're promoting their new album 'More' – their first in almost 25 years – as well as a frenetic new War Child charity single 'Begging For Change', the band was here to roll out a hit parade of golden classics.
Noir-rock supergroup Bleak Squad, featuring Adalita Srsen (Magic Dirt), Mick Harvey (The Birthday Party, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) Mick Turner (Dirty Three) and Marty Brown (Art Of Fighting), kicked off the night with a brooding set replete with jangly, haunting guitars and piano.
While there were some late arrivals mostly here for the main act, the hill was almost full for the Melbourne act's quality performance as they reeled off a handful of tracks from their debut album 'Strange Love'.
After a brief intermission, a big screen and robotic voice declared "this is a night you will remember for the rest of your life", before repeating "make some noise".
The Brit-pop legends then took to the stage and didn't hold back with the classics, opening with 'Sorted For E's & Wizz' – appropriate, given the crowd was "standing in a [hilly] field" – and 'Disco 2000' from 1995's 'Different Class'.
Frontman Jarvis Cocker swaggered about with heyday-era energy and his trademark wit, greeting the crowd with "hello, my name's Jarvis. What's yours? I'm gonna call you Brisbane, is that alright?"
Pulp - image © Matt McLennan
At one point he asked: "Does anybody want some tea?" before throwing teabags into the crowd. He also spoke of their humble origins in Sheffield and its famous alternative music nightclub The Leadmill.
Often labelled as part of the Brit-pop Big Four – along with Oasis, Blur and Suede – Pulp are unmatched in their sonic and lyric ability to create anthemic, almost stadium hits that are about going to the supermarket or remembering old hook-ups.
Throughout the show there was wild, near-subliminal art, song lyrics and phrases adorning the screen and the stage lit up with car yard-style inflatable waving tube men.
Partway through the set, it started to rain and a UK fan next to me said it made the show "just like England".
While the highlights mostly included 'Something Changed', which had a photo reel from their younger days, 'Mis-Shapes', 'This Is Hardcore' and the epic 'The Fear', their new songs were not out of place.
These included the synth bass-y 'Spike Island' (which was dedicated to a 1990 Stone Roses concert at an artificial island park in Cheshire), the brilliant 'Slow Jam' and also 'Farmers Market', before which Cocker quipped that they and their fans are more likely to meet people at farmers markets than nightclubs these days.
Pulp - image © Matt McLennan
This was all before a rousing penultimate belt-out of signature song 'Common People' with the crowd in full chant-along.
They then closed with new song 'A Sunset'; an apt way to end a show (even if well after sunset) but hopefully the sun has very much not set with Pulp's career and will see them back down under soon.
