Pulp announce hiatus with rarity-packed End of the Road headline

The set was prefaced with a through-the-years electronic photo album featuring archive photos of the band, lyric notebooks, studio rooms, live performances, even A Different Class's Discogs listing. It established the tone for a set of reminiscing. The band played B sides such as “Forever in My Dreams” and “Deep Fried in Kelvin”, the latter making its live debut 33 years after release. “The Mark of the Devil” hadn’t been performed since 1992. (They also played four tracks from last year's More.)

After opening with “I Spy”, Jarvis Cocker addressed the Woods stage: “Tonight it’s gonna be more of a case of You Spy. You’re gonna hear some songs we haven’t played in a very long time. We’re gonna try our best to remember them. And I’m also gonna give you a slideshow.” They then displayed the first-ever Pulp graphic, made in Cocker's bedroom, and pictures of what the band “used to look like” taken in his mum’s living room. “How did I repay my mother’s niceness?” he asked before the band played 1985 non-album single “Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)”, whose lyrics, he said, disqualified it for airplay. Almost every song was accompanied by a story from Cocker, evidently in a memory-lane mood.

Cocker also recounted memories of being at End of the Road itself, including staying at festival founder Simon Taffe’s house, and having breakfast cooked by his mother. He also once DJ’d with Richard Hawley, and saw Hawkwind, he said, before leading the crowd in “Happy Birthday to End of the Road”.

Cocker repeatedly said this would be the band’s last show for a while, adding, “it’s not the end of the road for Pulp though. I don’t think so but you never know, do you?” Writing on Instagram after the set, he tripled down on the fact that the show was “the last one for a while. But not for ever.”

The band closed with “Sunrise”, from We Love Life, with Cocker introducing it by saying “I’m not a religious person, but if I was going to worship something I’d worship the sun. Here’s to at least 20 more years of End of the Road.”

See the full setlist below.

"I Spy"
"Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)" (First performance since 2012)
"The Mark of the Devil" (First performance since 1992)
"Background Noise"
"Tina"
"Forever in My Dreams" (First performance since 2000)
"Deep Fried in Kelvin" (Live debut)
"Death II" (First performance since 1992)
"O.U. (Gone, Gone)"
"Babies"
"Razzmatazz"
"Lipgloss"
"Happy Birthday to End of the Road"
"Do You Remember the First Time?"
"Spike Island"
"Got to Have Love"
"Underwear"
"Common People"
"This Is Hardcore"
"We Are the Boyz" (First public performance since 1998)
"Something Changed"
"Sunrise"