In 2021, I became obsessed with the band Oasis, so very quickly I heard about the main Britpop bands, including Pulp. I remember listening to the first few seconds of "Common People" out of curiosity. At that time, as I said, I loved Oasis, so all I wanted were songs made for stadiums to sing along to, and the beginning of "Common People" wasn't that. And besides, as a French person, I didn't understand English. I had decided that I didn't like Pulp, and worse still, I had decided that I didn't like Jarvis. I knew nothing at all about him, I had probably just seen one or two photos, but since he was dressed like a geography teacher and Pulp was considered one of the intellectual bands of Britpop, I long considered him a condescending intellectual. And one day, I saw a video of him on Twitter simulating a sex act on a stage monitor... I remember thinking, "How can so many people like this weirdo band?"
Two years later, I was in a car in a supermarket parking lot. I was waiting for my mother, who had gone to do some shopping. We were out in the countryside, so I had no mobile network or internet on my phone, just a Britpop playlist I had downloaded a few hours earlier. Naturally, in that playlist, there was "Common People." This time I decided to listen to it all the way through and pay attention to the lyrics, now that I understood English a bit better. And I remember laughing as I listened to the lyrics. That stuck with me because I can't name many other songs that make me laugh. And then the song went on and I thought, "Wow, it's funny, it's politically engaged, it described exactly what I was living through and feeling... This band isn't so bad after all." From then on, I was a casual fan. I knew all the tracks on the Hits compilation, but I had never had the curiosity to go any further.
And then I saw them live a month ago at the Beauregard festival. I knew I was going to have a great time since I already liked their music, but I didn't know how much. I arrived twenty minutes before the gig and I was in the tenth row. I wanted to go to the front row, but I didn't dare because it was out of the question for me to disturb people who had queued for hours when I had just arrived. A man I didn't know, wearing a Pulp t-shirt, saw me hesitating and asked me if I wanted to go to the front row. I said yes, and he helped me make my way to the second row. I remember being shocked by the kindness of the crowd and, even before the concert started, I remember thinking that I felt good around these people. Everyone looked super cool. Young people, older people, women with shaved heads, men with LGBT flags... A bunch of misshapes, as Pulp would say, who were there to dance together and look out for one another. And then during the concert, being in the second row, I was blown away by Jarvis. Remember the prejudices I had about him a few months earlier? They all vanished as soon as he stepped onto the stage. I've never seen a frontman as cool as that. During this concert, I jumped, I sang, I danced, I laughed, I had tears in my eyes, I met people, and I even managed to catch and eat a grape thrown by Jarvis... How can a concert be better than that? I don't know.
After that, I listened on loop to Pulp's entire discography. And I made the decision to leave France to go see them in Manchester next month. I'll be making the round trip just for them. I don't know if Pulp is my favorite band because I adore so many of them. Nor do I know if it's the band I identify with the most, because I identify with Pulp but also with other groups. On the other hand, it is the one and only band that I would want to follow on tour. The only band for whom I absolutely want to be in the front rows. The only band I go to see for the music of course, for the band, but also for the crowd, the atmosphere, and everything else. In fact, I feel like it's not their band, but MY band. Or rather, OUR band.