Jarvis Cocker Announces Pulp Reunion and Live Shows for 2023

What exactly do you do for an encore?

Jarvis Cocker recently released a cryptic Instagram post quoting “This Is Hardcore”, sparking wild speculation from fans about something forthcoming from Pulp. At a recent Q&A promoting his new memoir Good Pop, Bad Pop, the legendary frontman finally confirmed the answer to his riddle. Yes, Pulp will indeed be reuniting for a series of live shows in 2023.

This will coincide with the 25th anniversary of This Is Hardcore, and marks Pulp’s first live appearances since 2012, when they performed a homecoming gig in Sheffield and a pair of shows on the SS Coachella Cruise. (Before that, they crashed Glastonbury 2011 in a now-legendary performance.)

In the meantime, Jarvis Cocker has kept busy: Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch features his music; his band Jarv Is… also released a new album called Beyond the Pale.

Details about the Pulp tour are still unknown, but drummer Nick Banks suggested on BBC Radio Sheffield that a performance in their home city is in the works. “It doesn’t take the brain of Britain to put those dots together,” he said. “It was never a case of us all starting calling each other names and chucking our toys out of the pram. The band gets put in a drawer under the bed and you know it’s safe there and eventually it’s going to get resurrected.” (Cocker was more succinct, calling the band a “dormant volcano” in a 2015 NME interview.)

Over on Twitter, Banks confirmed their plans. “Hey folks, unsurprisingly it’s all gone a bit mental on here,” he wrote. “Gig details will be revealed as and when…Stay calm, hug your Pulp records and dream of going mental sometime in 2023.”

That is hardcore. See you soon!