Pulp Return to Glastonbury With 'Secret Show'

Sixteen years after they gave one of Glastonbury's most talked-about performances, Pulp returned to Worthy Farm to play a "secret show" during their long-awaited reunion summer.

The Britpop band, who have returned to live dates nearly a decade after going into hiatus, bounded onto the Park Stage with frontman Jarvis Cocker addressing the crowd with, "Surprise surprise, you didn't think we were going to let you down, did you?" The band then launched into 'Do You Remember the First Time' -- ironic considering any Pulp performance at Glastonbury can't help but conjure up memories of the first time they appeared on most people's radar, headlining the Pyramid Stage on a Saturday night in 1995.

Unlike Radiohead's set the previous night, the Pulp setlist was weighted towards the songs people have been waiting to hear during that 10-year break -- the likes of 'Razzmatazz' and 'Acrylic Afternoons,' reminders of the day when Cool Britannia ruled the airwaves.

There was a light-hearted dig at the Killers -- playing their own gig a few hours drive away in London -- with Cocker apologising to any fans of the Las Vegas band expecting them as special guests and singing a few lines of 'Somebody Told Me.'

Of course, 'Disco 2000' and 'Sorted for Es and Wizz' had to be included, the latter being, of course, about the British tradition of standing in a field listening to music, after all.

"We'd like to say thank you to Glastonbury. When we played here in 1995 things kicked off for us. This song is very much associated with Glastonbury for us," Cocker said. Of course he meant 'Common People,' the singalong class war anthem that made stars of the mis-shaped Sheffield band, and a song that will always have a little bit of Glastonbury in it.

It's good to have them back.

-- On-site reporting by Rebecca Laurence

Watch Pulp Perform 'Common People' at Glastonbury 1995
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