Pulp - Live! [2LP]

Two sold-out nights at London's O2 Arena get pressed onto double vinyl with Pulp's Live!, the sound of a band relishing the second act most groups never get.

The shows came in 2025, the same week More sent Pulp back to the top of the UK album chart, and that confidence runs through every minute. Jarvis Cocker works the room like a man who has spent decades polishing the perfect aside, and the new songs sit comfortably beside the anthems that made the band such a fixture of the 1990s.

"Spike Island" sets the tone early, its wiry groove and wry self-examination proving the comeback material holds up under arena lights. From there the set moves through the dancefloor glitter of "Disco 2000" and the brooding, cinematic weight of "This Is Hardcore," with the full band giving the older songs room to swell and sway.

Then comes "Common People," arriving near the close like a tidal wave, still as sharp about class and privilege as it was when it first hit the radio. It's the kind of song a crowd treats as its own, and an arena full of voices makes that plain.

For anyone who caught the reunion, or wishes they had, this double LP bottles something rare: a celebrated band playing like they still have plenty to prove.