Pulp played their latest album ‘More‘ in full with some deep cuts, fan favourites and an ABBA cover thrown in at a special orchestral gig to celebrate 50 years of Rough Trade at London’s Royal Festival Hall last night (Saturday July 18). See footage, the setlist and what went down below.
The Sheffield indie legends were playing as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of their iconic label Rough Trade at the capital’s Southbank Centre, where they were joined by the the Elysium Collective to play through their latest album in full. Frontman Jarvis Cocker, aided by a Powerpoint presentation, talked through the story of each song on ‘More’ while also playing demos of ‘Spike Island’, ‘Grown Ups’, ‘Farmer’s Market’, ‘Got To Have Love’ and Richard Hawley‘s beautiful early take of ‘A Sunset’.
“You knew when you bought the tickets this is Powerpoint presentation. Well, it’s going to have elements of a Powerpoint lecture,” Cocker told the crowd before introducing the first of the photo selection and audio outtakes, as well as paying tribute to the album’s producer James Ford who was in attendance. He also led the crowd in singing ‘Happy Birthday’ to Rough, who the band signed to in 2024 ahead of releasing their comeback record,.
Cocker also shared a story of the band travelling to hike up Kerlingarfjöll in Iceland, to attach one of a tie belonging to their late bassist Steve Mackey to a mountain rock in his memory. He then introduced the b-side ‘Open Strings’, which was written about and played in tribute to Mackey.
Pulp also played a fevered rendition of the political banger ‘Begging For Change‘ from their recent War Child ‘Help(2)’ contribution, the first performance of ‘We Love Life’ deep cut ‘Wickerman’ for the first time since 2011, a lush outing of ‘This Is Hardcore’, their cover of ABBA’s ‘The Day Before You Came’ and tender closer with the classic ‘Something Changed’.
Pulp played:
‘Spike Island’
‘Tina’
‘Grown Ups’
‘Slow Jam’
‘Farmers Market’
‘My Sex’
‘Got to Have Love’
‘Background Noise’
‘Partial Eclipse’
‘The Hymn of the North’
‘A Sunset’
‘Open Strings’
‘Begging for Change’
‘Wickerman’
‘This Is Hardcore’
‘The Day Before You Came’ (ABBA cover)
‘Something Changed’
Pulp’s 2026 summer tour is almost at an end up with upcoming shows including headline appearances at All Together Now in Ireland, Manchester’s Wythenshawe Park and End Of The Road Festival. Visit here for tickets and more information.
The band also recently announced the Garth Jennings-directed new film ‘What Do You Do For An Encore?’ with MUBI, with accompanying live album.
