Any great live album serves to capture not just that moment but an artist’s legacy. Be it the one already set or the one yet to come, there is a sense across Live! (as there is in all those Budokan concerts and Talking Heads’ Stop Making Sense), of coming to terms with Pulp’s legacy. This is not a nostalgia bait tour – unlike some of their contemporaries who were touring just a few months on from this O2 Arena London show – but a celebration of the band’s continued relevancy. Touches of classic material pair well with the fresh feeling brought on by More, an album that, now a year old, still feels as refreshing and inspired as it did on first release. Pulp has continued to bank on the feeling and iconography of their 2025 comeback album, and rightly so. Live!, their second live album (their first aptly titled one), is a celebration of the Jarvis Cocker-fronted band’s music, relevancy, and refreshing take on what live music means to audiences.
Roaring to life after an introduction from Kelly Macdonald, visualising that giant curtain coming apart and revealing that big blue dot to start Spike Island, it’s a warm feeling remembering Summer ‘25. Live! captures not just that warmth but the energy of Pulp as a live unit. They’ve grown in numbers and changed plenty of their members since first starting, but this core four-piece with additional Jarv Is… musicians has served songs old and new extremely well. Exceptional versions of classic tracks can be found the whole way through. Cocker and company were in great form for their More tour of the UK and Ireland. What Live! Does, though, play fast and loose with reality. A slight adjustment to the running order can be found with Grown Ups embedded in the second act, and The Fear, sadly, dropped entirely. Minor changes, but changes all the same. The show works with this change-up; omissions are inevitable for live albums. Party Hard and 59 Lyndhurst Grove are both, understandably, absent.
Live! is mixed well and sounds great. Hearing the crowd repeat the final line of Slow Jam back to Cocker and the band, it’s one of those little moments that makes all the difference. That is what live music is all about, audience interaction and the emotional range it then provides. You can hear the crowd again on a stellar rendition of Sorted for E’s & Wizz, which features some thunderous percussion and, as is the case for many of the songs on Live!, captures the spirit of Pulp’s particular live performance. Documented evidence that Help the Aged should be a setlist staple. Pulp sounds to be in particularly great form for this show, and aside from a charming lyrical flub on Disco 2000, the tightness of the set is a real surprise. Pulp has an underdog image to them even now they’ve topped the charts and sold out some of the biggest venues they’ve ever performed in, and here is a celebration of works which are only just being paid their dues.
This is Hardcore is a masterclass here, and with the likes of O.U. (Gone, Gone) and Sunrise following, it’s a nod to the bigger hits of lesser-known albums. Instrumental variations on Sunrise shine a spotlight on the excellent efforts of Mark Webber while This is Hardcore brings the Elysian Collective into the spotlight. It’s magnificent, not just for those who attended the shows but those who want a taste of how Pulp sounds live. Whether they get the chance to see them, with the band closing out their 2026 tour in September, remains to be seen. We can only hope that it’s not the end. Pulp has offered a glimpse into what they can do on stage at a time where their on-stage presence is uncertain. Versions of Something Changed, Do You Remember the First Time, and Common People here are career-best renditions of absolute classics. Cocker’s voice remains incredible, the core of Pulp is still incredibly strong, and those new additions offer such excitement to the hit tracks and new setlist additions. An excellent showcase of Pulp’s ongoing legacy as a band deeply rooted in the real world, reacting to it as their listeners do. Something Changed will have you bawling your eyes out, A Sunset will have you hoping for more of More.
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