First up was Pulp, who had recently reformed for a series of gigs this year which I was very excited about. Different Class is one of the best albums I have ever heard and I believe Common People is the one of the best songs of all time, so I knew I was in for an incredible gig. Pulp certainly put on quite a show, they started off behind a massive screen which flashed up messages to get the crowd excited and as soon as Do You Remember the First Time? started the excitement started to build up more and more. The bass was very very loud and this gig was one of the loudest I have been to, which makes a nice change because Reading is often ridiculously quiet a lot of the time. Once the screen fell down and Jarvis Cocker burst through to the centre stage, the crowd went crazy and from thereon in the gig was a roller coaster ride that got better and better. Dedicating Joyriders to the rioters and following on with the brilliant Mis-Shapes it was a cracking start to a gig.
Seeing Jarvis Cocker as the frontman of one of the best bands of the nineties was a very special experience. He is a true showman and is an expert in engaging and working the crowd. He is also pretty good at talking to the audience which a lot of frontman are not actually very good at. You hang on to everything he has to say and while he is a pretty odd guy, he is very very likeable. It is surprising how much work he does throughout the show being as the other band member simply stand there, playing the instruments albeit very well obviously, but Jarvis runs around the stage , jumps on the monitors, shakes his hips and does some other quite odd but hilarious dance moves. He has quite a stage presence and you really can't keep your eyes off him.
The audience were also very receptive to Pulp. Obviously during the hits people went mad for, especially Disco 2000 where the audience went into a frenzy and you had no choice to jump and dance around, otherwise you would have gotten knocked to the ground and that would have been the end of you. But there were other songs where I was surprised at how popular they were, for example Underwear. One of the best songs they had written but not that well known, but I was quite shocked to hear five 16 year old girls screaming the chorus as if they were singing along to Paramore or something. But it shows how strong the songs are that people who were only just about born when Pulp headlined Glastonbury in 1995 are singing passionately along to the songs.
Last but not least they of course finished with Common People which will stay with me for a long long time. It is an amazing song and for the full six minutes the audience was jumping up and down and singing along. I really did not want it to end but it is definitely a gig I will never forget and they were one of the best band I have ever seen. But things were about to get better with The Strokes coming up next, or so I thought.
I probably love The Strokes more than Pulp, I have listened to all of their albums multiple times and I feel that they have set the benchmark for all indie rock to have come out in the past ten years. However I felt something about their set was lacking. They started off really well, Is this it started off a mass singalong, and New York City Cops and Under Cover of Darkness got the crowd very excited and with following through with Modern Age, Machu Picchu and an amazing Reptilia and this was on for another great gig. But suddenly there was a bit of a lull. They started playing a lot of new songs mixed in with a slow songs, which I didn't mind too much because I knew them all but none of the crowd around me seemed to know any of it.
This also detracted slightly from the enjoyment of the gig. Literally the whole of Reading seemed to be at the gig and unfortunately a lot of wankers were there, who would push you out of the way to get to the front, only to leave when they realised they did not know the song. Very frustrating.
In regards to the band, they weren't the greatest at engaging with the crowd, Julian Casablancas seemed very awkward up on stage which is quite odd for a front man and he didn't seem to be interested all of the time. Also the sound had been turned down, so it was sometimes difficult to hear his voice from time to time, which of course is very annoying at a gig.
However there was a chance of redemption and The Strokes rose to it. Jarvis Cocker came on stage to guest on a Cars cover of Just What I Needed which was amazing to watch and something that I did not expect. The cover was a bit messy but it was very likeable and you could tell they had a blast performing it. The Strokes then delivered hit after hit, with Juicebox, Last Nite and Take it or Leave It and the crowd got back into it and brought a decent end to an otherwise mixed gig.
