Music Features

Wireless Festival 2011 (Sunday)

THE WARM UP

Sunday at Wireless 2011 and to glorious sunshine, blue skies and awful beer at extortionate prices we entered the fray of what is, past experience considered, a smaller, but relaxed festival experience. The one day ticket, the London location and smaller crowds at each stage proved a godsend: allowing all the perks of a hometown gig with none of bladder-busting heroics and five hour vigils that come with being trapped in the bigger (and invariably less contented) throngs of people at larger events.

We turned up late, and that proved the right decision. Ambling into range of the main stage as the inimitable Faris Badwan and The Horrors took to the stage, the whole thing began as a highly cosy affair as everyone on site simultaneously tried to force down four pound pints of what appeared to be fermented cat’s urine (not that that’s scientifically plausible – which I suppose makes it all the more impressive). The Horrors set settled well, surprisingly suited to the great outdoors as they shifted through their catalogue, with Who Can Say and the new single Still Life proving highlights as they work to plug their upcoming record, Skying, before it hits shops on the 11th. It was instead the eight minute epic and finale to Primary Colours, Sea Within A Sea, that stole the show – perhaps because the introductory drum line is so reminiscent of what all present knew was to come; a cruel ploy to tease our anticipation it seemed.

And next on the agenda were the clearly aged Swedish garage rockers The Hives. Despite the evidently less fresh faces they produced a very remarkable half hour of entertainment with well known classics like Hate To Say I Told You So and Tick Tick Boom, bolstered with newer material and Pelle Almqvist’s downright immensity as frontman. My experience, however, was curtailed by the alluring bright lights of The Naked And Famous – an extremely poor trade off as it transpired – as their performance petered out under the fierce lights of the Pepsi Max Stage.

Next came critics' favourite, TV On The Radio, purveyors of several acclaimed albums over the last eight years including Return To Cookie Mountain and the recent Nine Types of Light. Unfortunately much of this glorious history failed to translate well to the occasion, barring a well arranged rendition of Will Do. Fortunately any disappointment was quickly absolved as an eagle-eyed friend spotted the regally embearded* bassist Kyp Malone as he entered the crowd to do a bit of star spotting of his own in expectancy of the imminent headliners; the conversation that followed was, by all reports, a little unsteady as Kyp asked politely, “and which song did you enjoy the most?”, the ill-informed friend’s reply, “Oh you know... that one that you started with...”, cue awkward silence and recovering comment about Grace Jones now arriving onstage with what was apparently a purple moon attached to her head.

Despite not being a particular follower of that well populated ‘cult of Grace’, I waited out her theatrics in order to retain position, displaying perhaps just a little too much nonchalance. Nevertheless I still don’t feel properly qualified to comment on her performance, so I’ll leave it at ‘Interesting’ (however good she might look for her age you can’t shy from the fact that she’s a sixty-three year old in fishnet stockings).

AND WHAT THEY CAME FOR

And so to the main event, the return of (in my opinion) the best band of the Britpop era, PULP. There was certainly a feeling of camaraderie I have experienced at few other gigs (save a Pete Doherty concert in which the unifying sense of relief at his eventual appearance was second to none). These were the hardcore, at the first show of their reunion tour to be announced, a subtle aspect to the crowd which the kindly Jarvis Cocker would later salute. And so they arrived onstage behind the guerrilla marketing tags that had helped bring this thing about, with the key phrase repeating: “Do you remember the first time?” with each passing syllable whipping the audience into ever greater waves of excitement. And after all that anticipation, all the talk, and all that time, suddenly they were all there, stepping out in the reveal of the now evaporating curtain; with Jarvis at their fore, resplendent in that trademark disheveled suit and tie – exuding all that pent-up charm and energy that he seems to have so inadequately failed to wile away in the intervening nine years.

Of course the set-list was dominated by Different Class and designed to allow space for the old favourites. The biggest applause of the night went to the big hitters: Common People and Disco 2000; but there were less predictably epic moments, having just heard the latter of those almighty heavyweights, and the hope that we might “all meet up in the year two thousand / Won’t it be strange when we’re all fully grown?” – now it came the turn of Sorted for E’s and Wizz, in the middle of Hyde Park, in the year of 2011, to observe curiously “Is this the way the future’s meant to feel / or just twenty thousand people standing in a field?” The appropriate nature of that one line sent a very tangible wave of bliss spreading among the occupants of that momentarily blessed patch of grass in the heart of London.

Even more substantial was the sublime This is Hardcore, the stage lights now an unwavering brothel red as Mr Cocker intoned across that gorgeously trumpeted riff: “You are Hardcore... / You make me hard” with all the quiet intensity of a man obsessed. Then, all but finally, it was the kinder beauty of Bar Italia that finally removed any hesitation in calling this a truly special moment – in the same way as Blur’s return here two years ago – Jarvis reminding us chattily that “Soho’s pretty close to here, just over thattaway” and in that amended Sheffield brogue warning “probably best not to go [to Bar Italia] now, Antonio’s probably asleep at the moment.”

It’s those little things that really demonstrate Jarvis Cocker as the front man he is: a vast collection of tiny, and often geeky and endearing idiosyncrasies that combine into one exceptionally compelling lead. A lead in particular to one of the great bands in history and, as he signed off each member of the outfit, it was an unqualified reminder that nine years on they still had it – job done.

*That’s a word now – in case you were wondering.

THE SET-LIST

Do You Remember The First Time? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPGepgWupTw

Pink Glove

Mile End

Mis-shapes

Something Changed

Disco 2000 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJS3xnD7Mus

Sorted for E’s and Wizz http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIaehhYLVZA

F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E

I Spy

Babies