A special one-off show in celebration of Rough Trade's 50th anniversary. The album More was played in full, in chronological order, for the very first time. Accompanying each song were stories and observations from Jarvis, aided by a PowerPoint visual presentation. Demo recordings of Spike Island, Grown Ups, Farmers Market, Got to Have Love and A Sunset were also played to the audience.
"Happy Birthday To You" was sung for Rough Trade following Got to Have Love. Open Strings was dedicated to Steve Mackey.
Following the more recent material, four older songs making full use of the Elysium Collective's twelve-piece string section brought the evening to an end, including the long-awaited live return of Wickerman after 15 years and another outing for the band's cover of The Day Before You Came by ABBA. Closing song Something Changed was not included on the printed setlist and had not been rehearsed for the concert.
After Spike Island: Hello. I don't know if you knew when you bought the tickets, this is a PowerPoint lecture tonight. And it's going to have elements of a PowerPoint lecture. Look, here's a slide. So, that music you just heard, that's Spike Island when Jason, with the red cap on there, sent me a demo of it back in April 2016. And this was our first view of Orb Studios where we recorded the album More. I was told to look out for the sign of the photographer that worked in the space above the studio. And I did. And we went in. Spike Island was the first song to be recorded for the album. It was a short session of 3 days in August so that we could get to know the producer, James Ford, who I believe is here tonight as well. So, James, and engineer Annie who is also here, showed us where to plug in our equipment. I plugged in my teleprompter and guitars. And, you know, we just got all set up. And then eventually, we were ready to go. And one thing about the studio, it had no control room, so we were all in it together. There was no escape, nowhere to hide. Are you ready? Were we ready? Well, for the first time in 24 years, I said, "1, 2, 3, 4: Come alive!"
Before Tina: Alright. Let's hear it.
After Got To Have Love demo: Oh you like it? You like it?! You're sick! The thing is I was unable to sing it in a convincing manner. Because I didn't believe in love at that time. I know. It is sad. It was when I come to the end of a long relationship and I didn't believe in it anymore. So that's another thing. And you have to be kind of ready to deal with your emotions. This is how you do it you distract people. Once you've thrown grapes at them, they forget about you and your awful demo. Don't you? Alright, let's hear what it sounds right now anyway?
Before Open Strings: We've spoken about the front cover of the record and this is the back. So, this photo was taken in Chile on the 26th of November 2023. And that was 10 years after Steve Mackey, who was Pulp's bass player, had taken us on a walk into the Andes after our very first concert in Chile. As you will know, Steve passed away in 2023. And so, we decided to create a memorial to him in the mountains. So, this tie that you can see was an old tie that was in the wardrobe case. Someone had given me a badge with a photo of Steve on it after the concert the previous night. And so, we set off into the mountains and hiked until we found a suitable place to put them. And there they are. Around a rock. As far as I know, they're still there. And here we are all on the back of the sleeve in the same place. Open Strings is a song that was released as a B-side to the Spike Island single. The music was written by Richard Jones. And the words are by me and they are about Steve. And I'd like to say hello to Mary.
Before Begging for Change: Tried to play it in the studio. It kind of sounded okay. It didn't really fit with the rest of the record. And then James Ford rang me and said, "I'm producing the Help 2 album, and have you got a song that Pulp could put on it?". And I said, "Well, why don't we try and finish that one that we couldn't finish?". He said, "Yes, okay". And it turned out - this is going to sound kind of a bit cruel really - but it turned out that the missing thing was screaming schoolchildren. It was like a kind of a children's choir there and we got them to scream on it and it was great. Now, there are no schoolchildren here tonight, I don't think. So, at a certain point, I'm going to point at you lot and I'm going to ask you to scream. Okay? I know we're in the Royal Festival Hall and we're not supposed to do things like that, but are you up for it? Yeah, I need a little bit more. Are you up for it? Okay, this is called Begging for Change.
Before This Is Hardcore: I think it is getting quite late now. It's nearly ten. It's time for a bit of hardcore action, huh? Yeah absolutely.
Before Something Changed: It's been great. As I said, Happy Birthday to Rough Trade. And we haven't rehearsed it but we'll attempt to play it. You know what it is? It's Something Changed.