we just want the right to be different ... that's all

   does this give you a clue where I was last week??!!



  anyone, anyone??(!!) - yes watching PULP!!! - and what a 2 nights it was!!!





this is what the inside of brixton academy looks like - pretty amazing right!!



before the gig started Paul was saying where we were standing was close
enough and I was saying, for you it's not, just go forward once it starts
 - but he was on about that it's like a pact, if one goes forward the other
goes forward - and it was a sweet kind of gesture, but I was like dude
just go forward, it's fine, I'm used to going to gigs on my own and being
by myself (and he said that it was the same for him) so I said just go
forward - I'm happy where I am ... there's no way I'm getting squashed
to death and/or losing my blackberry/camera/mp3 recorder/blog
address cards (the last 2 cause I was so sure I'd see stylish people I'd
need to photograph .. amount seen=0 ... they were probably already
inside by the time we arrived)



it started with laser writing being projected out (impressive!!) asking
loads of things + some random(!) DO YOU WANT TO SEE A DOLPHIN?
!!!! ... then the P U L P letters at the back lit up with Jarvis reading each
letter out (like a school teacher!!) Jarvis is a very funny guy and would
tell us lots of random facts throughout the night (including do you want
to know whose birthday it is ... TUCKER JENKINS!!!! - was *just one*
but my favourite thing was after he'd cleaned his glasses and went to
put them back on, he acted all shocked that there was an audience in
front of him!!!



'please understand we don't want no trouble ... we just want the right
 to be different, that's all'

I could've damn cried when I heard the above cause it was so damn
perfect and just the pure ethos of pulp (and also so many bands I like!!)
you can hear it below - once the song starts the audio goes quite bad
(a better recording of this actual song will be further down on the 2nd
night) ... so after that had played out DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST
TIME? started and then the curtain dropped and it was really dramatic,
bands having a curtain drop is the best way ever to start a gig (and so
simple to do) 30 seconds to mars did it when I saw them and it's just
the perfect way to start a gig off - so the curtain dropped, everyone
rushed forward in a huge surge and I was like 'retreat retreat' HAHA!!
and I did - so Paul was up the front and I was to the left - everyone
was in their rightful positions!!



what I really liked is that you could tell what this gig meant to people
like how some woman near me reacted when they did COUNTDOWN,
just in that initial reaction you knew what it meant to her to hear such
an old song




do not *attempt* this pose - you will never look as cool as Jarvis!!!
even if you are drunk and it is the end of the night!! - be warned!!!

*stares at the picture wistfully - wondering if he'll ever be as cool as
Jarvy* ... or why *ALL* the males he likes are just the coolest dudes
ever with un-attainable cool-ness ... Brett/Mozzer/Jarvis ... damn!



this is quite weird (cause it's totally *not* that kind of song!!) but I
found DISCO 2000 to be quite emotional!!! - I have no idea why!!!
perhaps a bit of nostalgia creeping in or it's just me being me - ha ha!!!






I was always a bit worried how COMMON PEOPLE would be, I didn't
want this huge NOSTALGIA FEST - like Suede at the 02 when so many
of their songs were just soundtracks for lager-ed up lads to have some
kind of 'woo sing-a-long moment - the true importance and meaning of
the songs completely lost ... but I needn't have wooried - it wasn't mass
chanting of the lyrics - people were going wild, which I liked - I just didn't
want the night to be just about this 1 song - I thought after Disco 2000
that this might have got me emotionally - but it didn't!! ... before the gig
I thought it might have been this song that did - but I like it was the song
that I hadn't expected!!



then the song I've been wanting to hear ... RAZZMATAZZ!!! I had been
thinking about it all night, wondering if they were going to do it - and
at this point I knew that it was getting near the end of the gig, so it was
a real relief when it was played ... and I liked that it didn't get a crazy
reaction like COMMON PEOPLE - that it was more like this cult song
of there's
 


MIS-SHAPES ends the gig - great choice - it really is the perfect Pulp
song and I like how it ties in with the sentiment that started off the gig
I really appreciate them playing it especially as apparently they don't
really like the song that much anymore (left off the HITS compilation)
for me it's the perfect Pulp song in which it sums up the band and what
they are about perfectly (it was actually my favourite Pulp song until
I discovered 'Razzmatazz' and 'Acrylic afternoons')

Mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits
Raised on a diet of broken biscuits, oh
we don't look the same as you
we don't do the things you do
but we live around here too, Oh really

Mis-shapes, mistakes, misfits
we'd like to go to town but we can't risk it, oh
cos they just want to keep us out
You could end up with a smack in the mouth
just for standing out, Oh really

Brothers, sisters, can't you see?
The future's owned by you and me
There won't be fighting in the street
They think they've got us beat, but revenge is going to be so sweet
We're making a move
we're making it now
we're coming out of the side-lines
Just put your hands up - it's a raid yeah
We want your homes
we want your lives
we want the things you won't allow us
We won't use guns
we won't use bombs
we'll use the one thing we've got more of - that's our minds



thanks to the kind person who let me take a photo of the set list



below is the actual set list played (it was changed a bit as Jarvis
played UNDERWEAR as a fan had mentioned it in a letter he read
out)

Do You Remember the First Time?
Countdown
Lipgloss
O.U.
Have You Seen Her Lately?
Something Changed
Disco 2000
Sorted For E's and Wizz
Wickerman
Bad Cover Version
Babies
Underwear
This Is Hardcore
Sunrise
Bar Italia
Common People

Razzmatazz
Mis-Shapes




So I'm back for the 2nd night - on my own cause Paul couldn't get
the day off work ... yes I've bought all the same stuff to fill my pockets
cause I thought if I don't bring it all, you know I'm gonna see someone
I would have wanted to have got a photo of/interview - so not much
jumping up and down for me

here is the laser thing that starts off the gig - cool eh?! ... look out for
the dolphin!!



yes 2 videos of DO YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST TIME(!!) - the 1st
is a lot closer but the 2nd has the curtain drop in it's full EPIC GLORY!!!
can you imagine out little hearts/bodies jumping for joy at that moment!



... look out for the curtain drop on the below video!!!



what I loved about tonight is that because I'm more to the left hand
side, I can really observe things a lot more closely - especially just
Jarvis performing this song and seeing all the angular moves he pulls
- and then added to that there is this the guy in front of me doing very
cool dancing, all new wave style with jerking shoulder movements
... I was like I gotta stay near this dude - it really was just all perfect
and it all felt strangely emotional - you know just in that instant when
something hits you just how perfect everything is








Jarvis tells a story about how they were playing 'Dolebusters' festival
and how they soon hit the RAZZMATAZZ!!! ... and then they actually
go and play the song, 2nd last song last night, but 3rd song in tonight!!!
it's really great to hear it at the beginning of the gig, in a whole new
context

THE TREES is a nice surprise - it was something that I really didn't
expect especially as it's so laid back and quite mellow - it was a real
nice moment hearing it - getting caught up in that feeling

then they do THE FEAR - first thought damn -  that's one that Paul
wanted to hear - now if I would have got past obsessively listening to
Razzmatazz, Acrylic afternoons + She's a lady ... I would have actually
progressed to 'This is hardcore' album and heard this track - sure I
would have known it but the very thing that made it special tonight
would have been lost ... just that moment of the song unfolding in front
of you - hearing as each word was sang and realising what was being
said - the full impact of all of these things hitting you at once. I was
blown away by it - my song of the night for sure ... click here to hear
the album version of it - there are 2 youtube videos from Brixton, but
the sound is really boomy and not a good representation of how great
it was - the below from 1998 IS though ... after what I felt during this
song, I'm just so glad I had never made it to listening to the THIS IS
HARDCORE album ... and got to experience it like this

This is our "Music from a Bachelors Den"
the sound of loneliness turned up to ten
A horror soundtrack from a stagnant water-bed
& it sounds just like this
This is the sound of someone losing the plot
making out that their okay when they're not
You're gonna like it, but not a lot
& the chorus goes like this

Oh baby
here comes the fear again
The end is near again
A monkey's built a house on your back
You can't get anyone to come in the sack
& here comes another panic attack
Oh here we go again

So now you know the words to our song
pretty soon you'll all be singing along
When you're sad, when you're lonely
& it all turns out wrong
When you've got the fear
& when you're no longer searching
for beauty or love
just some kind of life
with the edges taken off
When you can't even define what it is that you're frightened of
this song will be here



then it's LIPGLOSS - and get this, I realised that the guy was not on
his own - there was a girl too!! and they did this matching little dance
thing, with like mirror hand moves!! ... so cool - I was like I REALLY
GOTTA STAY NEAR HERE ... why is it so important you wonder??
because at so many gigs unless you're down the front, people around
you just stand and nod, no-one reacts like they are having a great time
... you just need 1 person to be really into it, and then it almost allows
you to be into it too - if you've ever been around static people at a gig
you'll know what I mean .... and that's why I was so pleased to be near
these 2, who shall now be reffered to as the C.K's (Cool Kids) ... oh yeah
at one moment during the gig they were they were holding hands and
dancing ... it looked so darn cute!

real soon after in a moment that was exactly like at the Morrissey gig
when the model-esque girl was right next to me, constantly running
her fingers through her hair in an 'this song is so intense' moment
the same thing goes and happened tonight but with a guy with long
shaggy hair who was even more annoying (if that was possible) like
he'd just came straight from the Camden Mixer and he was constantly
touching/scrunching up his hair - he had came out of nowhere with 2
other people and stood right between me and the C.K's ... my perfect
set up was slipping away in front of my eyes - how the hell did they
manage to fit inbetween I don't know as there was hardly any room
- and why was I such a klutz to not say anything (+he was even taller
than me) luckily someone up there likes me cause they only stayed
for about a minute then moved away - I was so grateful ... I made sure
that no-one else creeped in after that!!! I was on full alert for anyone
getting too close!! ...

but in a further twist of great-ness, this other guy just appeared to my
right, he was more just your 'average gig goer - but he was totally into
it ... and he did not care about reacting how he wanted - and he made it
even more perfect - there was now like 4 of us all close together in our
own little worlds!!

listen out below for Jarvis singing happy birthday to Robin Gibb in a
Bee Gees style at the beginning!!! (with 3 STAYING ALIVE'S at the
end!!!) he had said it was clue to the next song - as soon as I heard
Robin Gibb I knew it was going to be Disco 2000!!!



this song is perfect, the C.K's are in front of me and that guy is to my
right and it's great to be part of this feeling that they are all creating
and then out of the blue I thought of this lyric 'only when I'd dancing
can I feel this free' that Pip used on his blog 'about me' ... Pip - you
would've loved it dude!! (by the way check out his cool blog here)

I was really looking forward to THIS IS HARDCORE  tonight, after
having seen how epic and grand it was the night before - and tonight
it's even better, bolstered by the great mood I'm in and the atmosphere
all around me - the song with it's strong and spiky chord progressions
makes you feel like you are in a James Bond/Pulp Fiction moment ...
and the 3.26 point of the song, looking at the stage and seeing it all
through the flashing lights and just being caught up in that feeling of
euphoria and jubilation - it was a really great defining moment of the
gig (see it below) ... definitely one of my songs of the night



"If someone says they want to live with a 'different' set of people, then
they're missing a very very basic simple point about human existence,
which is that ALL PEOPLE ARE THE SAME''

the above is how Jarvis introduced COMMON PEOPLE - it felt really
great, in a way like a political speech, it just added this real feeling of
intensity to the moment



to the left of this there are 4 people jumping up and down like rag dolls
at 3.30 :) 

yes including me!! - which like I said before I hadn't planned on doing
with having so much stuff on me - but I just had to, so with one hand
holding onto my pocket full of stuff and the other punching the air whilst
holding my I SAW PULP LIVE t shirt (that I said I hated the night before
when I saw it!) and you know what, it felt so great (not that I'm surprised
by that) ... but I think because it was the first time I'd really gone for it
that night, and combined with that moment of the song - it was just a
really powerful combination - like the most perfect euphoric high, that
you wish you could stay in forever

so after the gig I go up to the C.K's and tell them that they made my night
by being near me - just how they were totally into the gig - I ask if I can get
a photo to go along with the gig piece and they said yes - you can see them
below - I also tell the girl that she looks real cool and that if I saw her on the
street I'd be asking to take her photo for my blog!! and she said I can still
take her photo - so we agree to do it outside - so I'm glad I took everything
to the gig now(!!) - or it would have been 'I saw this real cool girl at the gig
who'd have been perfect for 'what are you wearing,who are you listening to?'

hard to tell ... but these photos are afters HOURS of dancing(!!)



it's a good job it was so dark in there cause honestly I don't know if I
could've handled the cuteness



talk about a pair of cheeky monkeys!!! I was like 'behave you 2 ... just
smile nicely(!!!)'



look out for both of them in the next WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?
the guy was just as cool when I saw what he was wearing ... and yes
that is a satchel strap around her shoulder!!! (I know how perfect)

Do You Remember the First Time?
Monday Morning
Razzmatazz
The Trees
The Fear
Lipgloss
Something Changed
Disco 2000
Sorted For E's & Wizz
Sheffield: Sex City
Babies
Live Bed Show
This Is Hardcore
Sunrise
Bar Italia
Common People

Party Hard
Countdown
Mis-Shapes

Wickerman

so close yet so far ... just found this on youtube - Pulp only playing
'Acrylic afternoons' at Glastonbury - it didn't seem too bad when it
was just an album track I wanted to hear (along with 'She's a lady')
as in you know they can't do everything on this return ... but knowing
I got so close - as in it was in the set list ... makes it even worse - it's
like finding out Morrissey did Panic/Shoplifters on the tour but not
at my 2 gigs ...

current fave Pulp songs  (change around)

1/She's a Lady
2/Acrylic afternoons
3/Razzmatazz

I am slightly obsessed with Pulp now after having seen them live
it is definitely the worst possible time to become obsessed with them
though ... with any kind of future looking very uncertain

*warning* listening to Pulp can make you incorporate certain elements
into your behaviour that wouldn't normally exist - i.e. walking in the
street listening to 'Razzmatazz' and certain little hand movement coming
over you ... even in the gym changing room on the way to get my drink
from my locker listening to 'Razzmatazz'  when it get's to the 0.35 and
the 'oh-oh-oh' bit and at that precise moment I did like little turn thing
with (oh yes) a hand movement as well (I know) ... some guy on the
opposite side of the room turned around really quick, having sensed
something ... I did a real quick recovery though, I was like 'just getting
a drink from my locker' (whistle) - just be careful - especially with that
song

Holly Johnson was on the same tube as me - I saw him when we got

off at the same stop - no I didn't speak to him - why? cause it would've
just been me rambling about this song and how he has to reform FGTH
so I can hear it live and I know bands hate people going on about songs
from years ago ... but damn that.song.kills.me.

of course huge shout-out to Shahnaz and Tobi - yes they're the names
of the C.K's(!!) for making the gig extra special - if you ever see them
at a gig you are at, stick by them - you'll have the best gig ever!!

check out Shahnaz's Blog here (I got a lil mention on it - the neatest
thing ever) and check out Tobi's Blog with details of his 'Riots Not Diets
Brighton club nights

and a special thanks to JoJo who left coments on 10 of my posts the
night of this gig - it was real nice as I kept getting e-mail alerts on
my phone the whole journey to the gig on the tube!! - so thanks JoJo
check out her Blog ... Flickr ... and 'Bucket list blog  ... real cool girl all
the way over there in america

my favourite thing about the gigs is how my perception of the songs
have now changed after having heard them live, now whenever I listen
to THIS IS HARDCORE and COMMON PEOPLE, I see them in a totally
different light and I'm instantly transported back to the gigs and am in
*those* moments once again - and that really is the greatest thing ever



all those stupid little things, they ain't working
no they ain't working any more