Continuing on my series looking at Glastonbury headliners over the years, we arrive at Pulp. After Oasis on the Friday in 1995, Pulp famously stepped in for The Stone Roses on the Saturday.

Although the Roses are a legendary band, and have never played Glastonbury, Ian Brown is a notoriously bad live singer, so I think the ears of the crowd were spared that night!

Pulp are an interesting choice to step up, as they really weren’t headliner material at this time. After releasing multiple albums starting from the ’80s, they had just found success with 1994 album His ‘N’ Hers. They had a few hit singles from that album, but not exactly enough for a headline slot. But they had one massive trick up their sleeve…

The hour-long set is quite enjoyable, with the onstage jokes and observations of frontman Jarvis Cocker keeping the crowd engaged. He also displays a magnetic stage presence throughout the performance. You really can’t take your eyes off him. “Do You Remember The First Time” and “Babies” spark singalongs and even “Razzmatazz” and “Joyriders” do in some parts. They display some more dramatic/quirky tracks before the crescendo of the gig and Cocker says their new song “Sorted for Es and Wizz” is about the legendary Spike Island gigs by the Roses.

However, the real trick up their sleeve is their recent single “Common People.” The song was already gaining great popularity, but the song becomes a monster anthem that closes the show. The way it keeps building and building ends the show with a bang, and the crowd go absolutely wild.

Jarvis says his final words and the band walk away triumphantly, having unexpectedly nailed their slot. This song is arguably one of the first “Glastonbury Moments.”

They returned to headline in 1998, with a bit of a strange set. They had a more hits this time, and the classic album Different Class, from late 1995, was a huge hit – partly due to the Glastonbury gig.

They play quite a challenging setlist, with most of the concert deriving from their new album This is Hardcore, which is a lot darker and less immediate than the aforementioned 1995 album. They don’t even play big hit “Disco 2000.” This set is a bit of a missed opportunity, in my opinion. The classic performance that is shown year after year is 1995, and this show is almost wiped from history.

Pulp returned to Glastonbury this year, to much anticipation. They were billed as mystery band “Patchwork,” similar to the secret Foo Fighters slot a few years ago.

I feel this is the perfect slot for Pulp in this era, as sadly the hour-long set showed that songs the crowd would’ve sung in the ’90s, like “Babies,” don’t get the same reaction from the mainly younger crowd now.

Nonetheless, the stage presence of Jarvis is still as dynamic as ever, with his witty anecdotes pushing the set along.

Of course “Common People” closes the fun set in suitably epic fashion. With this song, Pulp have written themselves into Glastonbury folklore forever. Next time, I will talk about The Cure, the final headliner of 1995, and their performances over the years.