Pulp made their first live appearance of the year last Wednesday (March 25) at a highly unusual location: 28 floors above ground in the Windows On The World restaurant at the Hilton Hotel in London's Park Lane.
Living like common people was not on the agenda as, to a backdrop of spectacular views across London, a star-studded invited audience - including Zoe Ball, Neil Hannon, Cerys Matthews from Catatonia, Maxim from the Prodigy with girlfriend Sara Cox, model Sophie Dahl and Danny Goffey from Supergrass - scoffed canapés, supped drinks from a special Pulp cocktail list and saw an exclusive preview of six songs from their new album, "This Is Hardcore".
Guests were asked to dress "in black and pink" - although only Jarvis Cocker bothered to comply with this dress code, and then only courtesy of a tiny pink handkerchief protruding from his back pocket!
As he walked onstage, Jarvis enquired of the crowd: "Are you well? Well, you won't be in a minute..." before leading the band - now featuring Richard Hawley from Longpigs on additional guitar - into a superb version of "The Fear", the first track on the new LP, followed by "Dishes" and their David Bowie pastiche, "Party Hard" Ironically, Mr Bowie himself was invited to the soirée, although he wasn't actually spotted on the night.
The curious location and lack of "real" fans didn't stop Jarvis from running through his entire repertoire of fancy dance moves, or from cracking a joke or two. He acknowledged applause in German, asked: "Are you feeling high? Cos we're 28 floors up!" and introduced previous single "Help The Aged" as "a song about being really immature: It's called 'Help The Jarvis'."
While most of the songs received a poppier treatment than on the alburn, their version of "Seductive Barry" was more in line with the band's much-touted new "awkward" direction, as the constant screech of feedback sent some of the audience running for the sanctuary of the cocktail bar.
Things returned to normal for a final "This Is Hardcore", after which several people tried to shake Jarvis' hand as he left the stage. "Don't worry," he said, "I'll be out later, we're all friends, we're all on one level."
However, Jarvis was notable only by his absence from the dance floor during the after-show party, which went on until 3am. One of the last to leave - despite an early start in the morning - was Radio 1 Breakfast Show host Zoe Ball, who said: "Weren't they brilliant? I'm not too sure about the new album -I don't think I've listened to it enough yet - but Jarvis can't help being a pop star when he's onstage, can he? People keep telling me I should be in bed, but you can't go to bed when Pulp are on!"
Pulp's next scheduled live performance will be an outdoor show at London's FinsburyPark on July 25.
