I was (and still am) a huge comedy fan and I would often travel into the city to see comedy. The runner of one particular comedy room would collate incredible front-of-house playlists to play between acts. When I saw a show there one night, Common People played over the speakers, and I remember Shazam-ing it for later reference. I had never heard of Pulp before, they were popular in Australia, but never to the same extent as in the UK. I remember hearing Disco 2000 and Babies play later that night, and thinking they must be by the same band as that first song, because they all had the same unique vocals.
That was it with Pulp until several months passed, and Melbourne was in lockdown, and I decided to delve into their discography on Spotify. I started with Different Class, then moved on to His N Hers. The frightening nature of domestic interiors felt like an especially pertinent subject matter when I couldn't leave the house for more than an hour a day. I would sit in the dark in the evenings listening to Hardcore and His N Hers, and go for long walks around the suburban streets of my hometown during the day or wind down after work, while listening to Different Class and We Love Life.
I was enamoured with Jarvis's descriptions of Sheffield, which seemed to mirror the somewhat bleak but interesting backwater where I grew up.
I had seen footage online of the 2011 reunion and desperately longed for another reunion. In 2021, it felt so unlikely that I vowed to myself to travel to the UK if Pulp ever toured again. And that is how I found myself boarding my first international flight in June 2023, and how I found myself standing at the barrier in Finsbury Park on July 1st. So, I guess it started there...