The Quiet Revolution: Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, 31 August 1999

Pulp played as part of the Flux Festival. 

Set List: Roald Dahl / Birds in Your Garden / Perry Reggae / Donovan / Burgers & Coolers / Rave Sense / Sorted / TV Movie / Blue Girls / The Fear / This Is Hardcore / Dishes

We left our hotel at 9.10pm and hailed a taxi to take us to the resplendent sounding Queens Hall, which is apparently the home of, among others, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. After telling the driver our required destination, he totally astounded us by saying, "you must be going to see Pulp". Apparently, he had just taken his daughter and some friends to the venue and when we arrived, there was a queue about 100yds long waiting for the doors to open, including some girls in the now obligatory pink shiny wigs!

We were then directed to the booking office to collect the magic envelope, only to feel our excitement rapidly diminish as the contents revealed two tickets but no backstage passes. (See - even Marky's parents can't get in!! - Ed.) After a quick moan and groan and a heartwarming plea from a ticketless Pulp fan who said he would gladly take them off our hands we moved outside. Panic over, for in the next taxi arrived Candida, Nick and Pulp Management and we were soon given our AAA passes to the amazement of the waiting hordes, who no doubt wondered who the old groovers were.

After a drink in the bar courtesy of PM, we were joined by our superstar son who rapidly disappeared when the masses were let in, apparently stardom can have it's downside. On his advice, we then made our way upstairs and sat in the centre pews in what could only be likened to being at a wedding and waiting for the bride and groom to arrive. Down went the house- lights and down stayed the venetian blinds, albeit to gradually open as the new songs were revealed. While we felt that this stage setting lent an air of mystic to the night, Pulp fans had come not only to hear their favourites but had waited a long time to SEE them again, so perhaps it would have been better if the blinds had been raised earlier.

Time seemed to shoot by and the new songs had come and gone before they could really be appreciated, the main reason being that it took this time to believe they were playing a live concert again, after what seemed to be an eternity. "Sorted" quickly brought us down to earth and this was the Pulp of old; great, great sound, however it's got to be admitted that "Blue Girls" isn't on our favourites list, how about "Love Love" next time? With Mark and Steve doubling on trumpet and clarinet! "Hardcore" was superbly performed by Jarvis and co., no backing tapes but a real solid sound and in less than no time it was over, with "Dishes" again bringing the concert to an end.

After chatting and partaking of a little refreshment backstage, where the guests included the Pastels and the cellist who plays with Mark's great icon La Monte Young, we left at 1am for our hotel. Our first visit to Edinburgh had been well worth it, the only regret being we weren't following them to Ireland to hear those new songs again. (Tony & Sheila Webber)

It was incredibly low key - wandering around Edinburgh the day before you got no idea of the impending concert - no posters, nothing. So it was exciting to see the queue forming outside the venue as 9pm approached - made it seem more real somehow (I didn't dream the whole thing). The Queen's Hall (right) turned out to be even smaller than most people imagined, a lovely Georgian church that had retained it's ecclesiastical air (and pews) despite being converted into a live music venue. The photo on the right makes it look far more impressive than it actually was - in reality you could have walked past it and not even noticed it was there. The stage was small (tiny by Pulp's standards), and in front of it was a standing area encircled by a horseshoe shaped seating area, which was repeated in the Circle above. Because of the size of the place even those seated above had a very good view of the stage. One thing that wasn't really noticeable was the carpet of bright green astro-turf - you can see it in the photos of the soundcheck.

There was definitely a feeling of anticipation before Pulp took to the stage; most people had travelled long distances for this and the prospect of hearing new Pulp material was pretty exciting. The air of mystery was further enhanced by the stage being concealed on all three sides by three silver Venetian blinds (below), a remainder from the set Pulp played in Venice back in June. The carpet of fake green grass completed the effect. Pulp had been intending to go on at 10pm, but in the end it was more like twenty past.

Those expecting the blinds to be raised when Pulp started playing were disappointed, as they played at least half the set from behind them, which, for me at least, only added to the mystique - from some angles you could see them through the blinds quite clearly, but then they would disappear when the lights changed. I didn't actually notice them being pulled up, but all of a sudden there they were: Crowded on to that tiny stage, Nick actually standing behind his mini drum kit, Candida looking particularly beautiful with her sexy new haircut...Steve with his fancy new sampler, Mark, seated for the second half of the set, and Jarvis, barefoot, brown nylon trousers flapping around his ankles...it was a bit like going back in time.

The set was the same as the one played in Venice with one notable exception: Pulp surprised everyone by playing "Blue Girls" - yes, "Blue Girls", from 'It'! Pretty amazing, since nobody in the group except Jarvis had ever played the song before. It came after the new songs and two of the more familiar songs, Sorted..., and TV Movie; after Blue Girls came The Fear, This Is Hardcore, and Dishes. The Fear and Hardcore were particularly interesting as they were played without any of the majestic effects the studio adds - so they came across even bleaker than we are used to.

Pulp didn't quite stick to the set list they had used during the sound check. Clearly the titles are all working titles, but at least you've got something to go on now! I realise it's almost illegible so this is what it says: Roald Dahl; Birds; Perry Reggae; Donovan; Burgers & Coolers; Rave Sense; Sorted; TV Movie; The Fear; Hardcore; Dishes; Blue Girls I'm not sure if "Roald Dahl" refers to the spoken word song where Jarvis reads from a book, because the book isn't by Roald Dahl. Jarvis reads a passage taken from "Return To Air", by Philippa Pearce, a short story contained in an English Project Stage One book called Ventures, edited by Elwyn Rowlands, (Penguin, 1971). It's a story about a boy, out swimming with his classmates, who has to fetch a brick thrown into the water by the teacher; the boy duck-dives and swims down to retrieve it, only to find that he has in his hand a tin box, not a brick at all. But the box is empty. Interestingly, the story is illustrated by a drawing of a boy breaking the surface of the water, and he doesn't half look like Jarvis! I'll be transcribing it on to these pages once I've checked that it's ok with Jarvis. After the set, Steve and Jarvis went back on to the stage to play some records to a - I have to say - slightly unresponsive audience. Some had gone home because they hadn't realised we were going to be treated to a DJ set - unfortunately I can't remember much of what they played and my film had run out by then - vague memories of Joy Division and Vanilla Ice are haunting me, oh and a bit of Queen. I'll sign off now, I'll be happy to answer any questions about the night anyone cares to throw at me. I'd just like to say that it was great to finally meet some Pulp People, some of whom were staying at Edinburgh station overnight...well I hope it was worth it! 

Melody Maker review:

One of our greatest bands, Pulp, no matter how mother-fruggingly essential their music and no matter how voluminous Jarvis' charisma, just can't compete with the Kremlin-sized hell-fire live genius of Spiritualized. Not that they've any interest in doing so, mind. They are Pulp and therefore can do whatever they damn well please.

Which is why tonight's performance is no comeback. Rather, it's a quiet revolution, a six-song suite performed a few weeks back at a Venice art exhibition. Tonight it's low-key and stripped-down, just the band and some new material. Playing behind some half-closed Venetian blinds. Pulp, it seems, are taking their suburban voyeur, twitching-curtain mythos a little too literally. Halfway through the twinkling, urgent instrumental intro (no title as yet), the blinds are raised two inches, revealing two bony feet protruding from velvet flares. This is all we see for the first five-and-a-half-songs. Art? A mistake? No, Jarvis informs us, it's because these blinds were debuted in Venice. Crap gag, then. Good ol' Pulp.

The new material is hardly as challenging as rumour would have it. Mostly they're lushly romantic, lazy veranda show-tunes, most of which, oddly, seem to be preoccupied with bird metaphors (feathered variety). Musically, they're all stop-start rhythms and darkly rolling melodies. A song presumable entitled "The Quiet Revolution" is no "Glory Days" [Thank God! Ed.), or "Common People" anthem, rather a come-to-bed samba which threatens to build to a momentous climax, but which eventually peters out [not unlike Susan Clark's career? - Ed]. Another sees Jarvis plonking away behind a toy piano like the twee rock-godfather he is. One is a dull spoken word epistle [it only seemed dull because of the bad sound, I promise you - Quality Control Ed.], while the best is a throbbing late Velvets effort, very possibly called "Sunburst", at the crescendo of which the blinds raise and the crowd erupts. Jarvis thanks us for bearing with them. Bless. Cue "Sorted For E's & Wizz" and a welcome cluster of "Hardcore" material. The message being, we're not back, we're still here. Still Pulp. Still necessary. (Paul Whitelaw )

NME review:

Cocker's Back! Pulp preview new material at Flux

Pulp aired their first new material since the release of last year's 'This Is Hardcore' at a special one-off show at Edinburgh Queen's Hall last week. They performed  six new songs on the last night of the Flux Festival, in a show based on their recent performance at The Biennale Pavilion in Venice, dubbed 'A Quiet Revolution". The songs were originally composed solely for the Venice show, which accompanied an exhibition by the Turner Prize-nominated artist Gary Hume. After the Edinburgh gig, their first UK live appearance of 1999, Cocker explained to NME: "We were asked to write some songs to perform in this huge palace, amongst all these huge chandeliers and delicate ornaments, so we had to write music that would really work at a low volume. Once we'd written them, we realised that we wanted to develop them further and play them in front of real people".

All the new songs were performed from behind a set of giant Venetian blinds, a pun on their geographical inspiration. "The whole event was so serious and formal", Jarvis laughed, "we just wanted to inject a bit of humour into the proceedings".

As yet only two of the songs have finished titles. One, "The Birds in Your Garden", is an acoustic ballad with chirping bird noises and features the lyrics: "The birds in your garden / They all started singing this song / Don't despair it's alright". The other titled song is "A Quiet Revolution", which seems to touch on themes of dealing with growing older and watching friends die and disappear. Lyrics include late night ruminations like, "Is this a microwave I see before me / As the clock strikes 3am?", and, "What can I do with the rest of my life / Even though your friends are dropping like flies?". Another new song to Pulp is a reworking of the bleak country-blues "The Coo Coo Song", first performed by country singer Clarence Ashley. It was rewritten earlier this year by Cocker for Nick Cave's Meltdown festival celebration of Harry Smith and his legendary 'Anthology of American Folk Music". "I felt a bit uncomfortable with covering some of the blues tracks from that collection, doing that whole 'I woke up one morning' thing," Jarvis explained. "So I just tried to adapt the basic song and tried to personalise it a bit more".  The new lyrics include: "Well the cuckoo is a pretty bird / Sings the sweetest song I ever heard / I thought you'd like to know I still think you're the most / You left me lying here, married to a ghost".

Other tracks played at Flux included an instrumental which featured a glockenspiel and a song dedicated to "the sun coming up", accompanied by a Velvet Underground - style chiming guitar played by Steve Mackey. The final new track was a Belle & Sebastian - type monologue from Cocker [Eh??!?!?!????? - incredulous Ed.], a bizarre story about the retrieval of a brick from the bottom  of a pool thrown there by a teacher. The rest of the set drew mainly on 'This Is Hardcore', and featured 'TV Movie', 'The Fear', 'Dishes', and  'This Is Hardcore', alongside 'Sorted for E's & Wizz'. As to whether the songs would feature on a new Pulp record is unclear. Jarvis said they may well point the way forward, though he added: "We're off to write some new songs with the next record in mind".

[interesting how NME seem to have ignored "Blue Girls"....- Ed.]

What can I say about Edinburgh? It was the most personable Pulp gig I've ever been to. The new tracks are just brill, especially 'Birds', and to hear them perform 'Blue Girls' was so beautiful. It was also fantastic meeting Candida again, and Alex. It was one of the best nights out ever, to be there was a privilege. Thanks for everything" (Jody Foster, Bolton)

For me, surreal is the word that sums up the whole experience...Even now, one week later, I cannot believe it all happened. The venue had an intimate air unlike the larger stadiums, and it was simply paralysing having the band so near. It really was as if they were playing in someone's front room. The highlight for me was not just being privileged to hear their new material, but to hear both The Fear and This Is Hardcore sounding so stark and bare. They were so powerful..." (Susan Scott, Perth)

I can't think - I'm in a state of euphoria - being that close does that to me...Thanks Alex! I love the new songs (and Jarv's feet) - and Blue Girls made my night!!" (Lorraine Dobson, Hampshire)