Details
- Date: Friday, 7th October 1994
- Venue: Alexandra Palace
- Location: London
- Supporting: Blur
- Supported by: Supergrass and Corduroy
Setlist
Recordings
A recording of this concert does not appear on the Fiction Romance and England 1994 bootlegs as is often claimed, as they originate from a gig two days earlier at Aston Villa Leisure Centre. See the Fiction Romance page for further explanation.
An official video of Blur's headline slot has been released along with a bootleg CD featuring a soundboard recording. Therefore it seems quite likely recordings of Pulp were made as well, however, if they exist they certainly have not been widely circulated.
Reviews
As the battle of the four-letter bands, it was really no contest. David Sinclair writes. With their pseudo-heavy metal guitar riffs, lumpy rhythms and football terrace choruses, Blur simply trampled all obstacles in sight.
From the moment they launched into the jackbooted stomp "Sunday Sunday" there was pandemonium among the densely-packed crowd which threw itself towards a stage decorated with five giant lampshades to give an incongruous vision of mock-Fifties kitsch. And the assault rarely faltered. As an unbashed celebration of southern English yob culture it was unassailable.
Pulp, who played before Blur, did not excite such a Pavlovian response. Yet their set was all the more impressive for its lack of rabble-rousing tactics. They exerted a fragile charm that was both amusing and mysterious.
Much of their appeal resided in the idiosyncratic personality of singer Jarvis Cocker, whose performance imbued the show with a sense of theatre. Laced with his droll, northern wit, songs such as "His 'N' Hers", "The Common People" and a romping finale of "Babies" illuminated a sleazy strand of English romanticism. So victory to Pulp on points, despite Blur's knock-out punch at the end.