PULP Illuminate Manchester A Triumphant Solstice Spectacle at Co-op Live
- Desh Kapur
- 22 hours ago
- 2 min read
Co Op Live iManchester, 21st June 2025
IMAGES PAUL DIXON / WORDS STEVE GLEAVE
Forget Stonehenge, PULP shine bright through the solstice in Manchester.
On the longest day of the year and with songs played including Sunrise and A Sunset, it would be easy to proclaim a new dawn for Pulp. Easy but true. This was a band energised on the last date of a tour that for the first time in a long, long while for them, promoted a new album; the chart topping More.
There is always a risk when showcasing new songs that there can be a drop off in the audiences attention and the bars and toilets tend to become very busy areas. Seven songs from the album featured; almost a third of the full setlist but the audience lapped them up. From the opening anthemic Spike Island, to the infectious sing a long of A Sunset as the encore, these new songs provided an edge and a thrill that may have been missing from the 2023 comeback tour.
With all Pulp gigs, Jarvis is the supreme conductor. From several references to Manchester including the Hacienda, the Trafford Centre and Pulp’s first gigs in the area; Salford University and the Boardwalk in 1992, to tales of tour decisions in the Peak District, the twenty thousand plus audience were captured.
The bands core of Nick Banks on Drums, Mark Webber on Guitar and Candida Doyle on Keys were more than capable of providing a superb platform for the front man and special mention also needs to be made of Andrew McKinney (bass), Emma Smith (violin/guitar) and the string section of the Elysian Collective (Happy Birthday wishes to Laura).
The production brought fun to the show with Inflatable giant stick men, bountiful volumes of colourful confetti, reminiscing video backdrops including younger pictures of the band through the years. We even had an interval countdown and a crowd volume activated clapometer vote for a choice of between two songs to be sung, with the Manchester Pulpians electing for Pink Glove over We are the Boys. All were welcome and elements that just added to the great sound of the venue, facilitating and delivering an eye-pleasing concept and a fantastic show. Having a catalogue of great pop songs to choose from doesn’t hurt either. Babies, Do you remember the first time, Disco 2000, Sorted for E’s and Wizz, This is Hardcore, Help the Aged, Something Changed, The Fear, Sunrise, Common People all featured and were lovingly greeted by the crowd like new puppies are by dog lovers.
As the lyrics state in Spike Island; ‘I was born to perform. I exist to do this’. Thankfully this realisation brought Pulp to the Co-Op arena and the connection and joy transmitted, was felt by all.
Set List
Spike Island
Grown Ups
Slow Jam
Sorted for E's & Wizz
Disco 2000
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
Help the Aged
Tina
Farmers Market
This Is Hardcore
Sunrise
Something Changed
The Fear
O.U. (Gone, Gone)
Pink Glove
Acrylic Afternoons
Do You Remember the First Time?
Mis-Shapes
Happy Birthday to You
Got to Have Love
Babies
Common People
A Sunset
FOLLOW PULP
Comments