Live Report: Pulp hit a high note at Dublin's 3Arena

Pulp, was there ever Britpop royalty so left-field yet towering in the cultural consciousness?

Well over 44 years have passed since they played their first gig at the City Comprehensive School in Sheffield, going on to dominate the 1990s charts after a decade of struggling to break through. Following the release of their seventh studio album, We Love Life, in 2001, the band took a decade-long hiatus, reuniting for a festival run in 2011 and another reunion tour in 2022.

Jarvis Cocker and Co.—keyboardist Candida Doyle, guitarist Mark Webber, drummer Nick Banks and a cast of 15 others not to mention a chamber string ensemble—emerged on the 3Arena stage to raucous ovation as tonight’s gig toasts the recent release of More, their first album in 24 years.

It was an astonishing, wildly polished and immaculate performance, replete with stunning visuals, Pulp’s usual on-stage antics and droll irony, an 18-strong troupe of top-notch musicians and a 22-song career-spanning setlist to boot; only befitting a band of such eminence.

Pulp at 3Arena on June 10th, 2025. Copyright Jason Doherty/ hotpress.com

Donning his typical English professor meets Serge Gainsbourg garb, frontman Jarvis Cocker sauntered around the stage like a ghostly Koko the Clown, his father-of-the-bride dance moves garnering thunderous applause. He opened the set with More lead single ‘Spike Island’. Over a disco-flecked soundscape, a glacially cool Cocker mused on the prospect of the band’s revival, suggesting “this time I’ll get it right” as he walks “back to the garden of earthly delights”.

Pulp at 3Arena on June 10th, 2025. Copyright Jason Doherty/ hotpress.com

A flurry of fan favourites and new tunes followed. On the strutting ‘Grown Ups’, the singer confronts his blink-of-an-eye journey from youth to adulthood as he stresses about “wrinkles instead of acne” and intends to keep ‘er lit on “one final blaze of glory”. From a guttural sprechgesang release to the playful response ”Are you sure?”, the track maintains Pulp’s tried-and-true vivacity but boasts newfound fortitude to go the distance. Meanwhile, tracks like the rapturous ‘Disco 2000’ and ‘Babies’ saw the crowd turn choral as they joined Cocker’s lead word for word.

Pulp at 3Arena on June 10th, 2025. Copyright Jason Doherty/ hotpress.com

A performance of 1992’s ‘O.U. (Gone Gone)’, which was released just before the band’s first Dublin gig at the Rock Garden, turned into a moment of reflection, with Cocker humorously recalling that they had their gear robbed the day before the concert, to which the Dublin promoter responded: “I’m sorry to hear about the gear and I’m sure the rest of it will get robbed tonight”.

Pulp at 3Arena on June 10th, 2025. Copyright Jason Doherty/ hotpress.com

A certain demographic needed only ‘Common People’ to make it a concert to remember. Neither at the start nor the end, and with a tame 15-minute intermission and a costume change at the half way mark, the absolutely-everywhere hit was buried deep in the set but still received the rip-roaring, floor-shaking fanfare it so deserved. Instead, the band ended the show with More closer, ‘A Sunset’, a wistful lullaby that spiralled heavenward under the neon lights as Cocker croons: “I bought myself a ticket/ To the happening of the year/ The whole sky lit up with colours/ The crowd let out a cheer”.

It’s a fitting summation of the band’s 3Arena takeover if you count deafening bravos and resounding acclaim as 'a cheer'.

Pulp are, as always, in a different class.

Check out the full gallery from Pulp's 3Arena gig here. Photography by Jason Doherty.