Pulp
Masonic Temple Theatre
Detroit
Sept. 17, 2025
It took Britpop legends Pulp just 24 years to release their new album “More.”
And it only took 29 years for Pulp to get back to Detroit to perform live again, with at least a handful of fans from that first show back in 1996 in attendance for this storied return.
The new album quickly climbed up the UK charts to #1. It’s a true return-to-form for a band that sonically sailed across the Atlantic to us on the wave of British music from the likes of Oasis, Doves, Coldplay and others in the 1990s.
But Pulp was always the sexier, nerdier, more well-read version of those acts. Big guitars here and anthemic choruses here – a major signature of the Britpop sound – but everything is slinkier, a bit more mischievous, like a flirty librarian making eyes at you instead of a full-fledged rock star.
That starts with Jarvis Cocker, the frontman of Pulp, who feels as if Mick Jagger and Elvis Costello had a baby. He came out swinging and sauntering, bounding up illuminated risers that held the eight-piece touring version of Pulp, who performed a two-hour set light on new material and focused on what the people want – the hits! (And I've got to say: The giant inflatable figures that you'd normally see outside of a used car dealership were a nice touch.)
Like “Common People,” the 1995 socioeconomic anthem that helped announce Pulp to the world and tells the story of a rich girl who meets Jarvis and wants to be a “common person” -- at least for a day.
Everything about Pulp and this set had a bit of glam to it, a little post-punk, a little synth sprinkled in there. And at the same time of hearing Pulp’s influence, you could also hear their influence on others over the years, like LCD Soundsystem and Arctic Monkeys and others.
It did feel like they had a sense of history here, a sense of something to prove after being away from Detroit for 29 years.
Everything about this set was well worth the wait.
