Was it really just a week ago when we posted on the miraculous second coming of Pulp? How a new album was recorded and ready and the tour was scraping around the globe, hitting strategic festivals and a few gigs on a few continents. What a difference a week makes. I’m sitting here with barely jangled nerves and a pair of Pulp tickets in my virtual hand.

REGISTER WITH THE BAND

Fortunately, last week I registered with the Pulp mailing list, so when I got the email two days ago trumpeting a fuller [much fuller] North American tour I was in the catbird seat for once. The band have more than those two Hollywood Bowl gigs happening, aaaaand wouldn’t you know it, their North American tour begins on September 4th in Atlanta at The Tabernacle. The night prior to the Sparks show also playing there <insert stinger>!

I had let the even the mighty lure of Sparks pass me by this time. It didn’t seem like it was going to happen and I couldn’t quite talk myself into it. After all, I’d seen Sparks once before on their Son Of Two Hands, One Mouth Tour in 2013. We had tickets for the “Drip, Drip, Drip” tour with a full band, but it was still in the middle of the pandemic. And Omicron wave convinced me to sell our tickets.

But I cannot pass up seeing the best band in Britain. The one with a through line to the New Wave era that still informs their often astonishing songs that pack a huge wallop for me. So if we were going to be in Atlanta on the 4th to see Pulp, I’d have to be cuckoo to miss Sparks, at the same venue, the next night. After discussing with my loved one, we acted. Last night we bought the Sparks tickets and this morning at 10, the artist presale happened at Livenation.com. And I’m sitting here with two tickets for Pulp as well. Thanks to the band/promoter because balcony seats were under three figures, so I was able to buy without blanching as I did so. Though I would have if it had come to that.

ECONOMIC CHAOS

The economic hits on the US tourism industry [among many others] following the chaotic mangling of the world economy since January 20th had one concrete benefit thus far. We were able to get lodging at a Hilton hotel, a block away from the venue in the heart of downtown Atlanta’s tourist zone [Coca-Cola and the Georgia Aquarium are a few blocks away] for what was an astonishingly low sum. Less than half of what a room should be going for in that zone. So I’m here to tell you that if you need to travel to any of these dates, it may be well worth the effort and cost. Though your mileage may vary. Where are those new dates that went on artist presale today? [General Sale Friday the 25th at 10 a.m.]

“MORE” NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

• Thursday 4 September – Atlanta Tabernacle
• Saturday 6 September – Washington, DC The Anthem
• Tuesday 9 September – Philadelphia The Met
• Thursday 11 September – Queens Forest Hills Stadium
• Saturday 13 September – Boston Suffolk Downs
• Tuesday 16 September – Toronto Budweiser Stage
• Wednesday 17 September – Detroit Masonic Temple
• Saturday 20 September – Minneapolis The Armory
• Monday 22 September – Denver Red Rocks Amphitheater
• Thursday 25 September – Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl [w/LCD Soundsystem]
• Friday 26 September – Los Angeles Hollywood Bowl [w/LCD Soundsystem]

So it’s all settled, then? Anyone reading this will be seeing Pulp in your local neck of the woods of North America? Then get ready for a new Pulp album to listen to even before “More” comes out in June.

NEW PULP CD WITH JUNE ’25 ‘MOJO’

Currently available is the latest issue of MOJO magazine with a Pulp interview cover and the ultimate perk, a bonus CD of rare material compiled by the band to help clean out the tape closet. Mojo issues still have a free CD even in 2025! Hard to believe, but just lovely. I will need to seek this out at the local newsstand that stocks such imports tout suite! What do we get on the disc?

Pulp: Forty Odd Years Live. Rare, Unreleased. 1982-2025 – UK – CD [2025]

1. What Do You Say? [Live at Marples, Sheffield, 15 February 1982] 3:48
2. Death Comes To Town [Unreleased Mix, December 1987] 4:24
3. The Trees [Live Rehearsal, March 2023] 4:50
4. Sliding Through Life On Charm [Demo 1999] 3:58
5. Live On [Mark Goodier Session, 30 May 1992] 3:54
6. Common People [John Peel Session, 09 September 1994] 5:49
7. She’s A Lady [Mark Goodier Session, 30 May 1992] 4:51
8. Sheffield: Sex City [Live at Motor Point Arena, Sheffield, 08 December 2012] 8:44
9. Duck Diving [John Peel Session, 12 August 2001] 6:31
10. His ‘N’ Hers [Live 1994] 8:47
11. F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E (Belly Button Thing)
12. [Previously Unreleased Moloko Mix, 1996] 6:17
13. Babies [Live at the Adelphi Club, Hull, 20 October 2009] 5:01

To be fair, the John Peel session tracks are on the previously released “The Peel Sessions” 2xCD we all have, but the rest of this disc? Not so much! So Pulp People will need to seek this one out! Beyond that it’s a considered assessment of the band’s full history with the Pulp version of the brilliant track “Sliding Through Life On Charm” as written for Marianne Faithfull’s superb “Kissin’ Time” catching my eye in particular. Though Ms. Faithfull owned that one clearly! So get thee to the news agent/newsstand/whatever. Buy those tickets. Preorder “More.” See the gigs. Discuss here afterward, and we’ll have a better time in 2025 than we were expecting by far.

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