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Jarvis’s return requires no Pulp
REVIEW: JARVIS COCKER
Koko
by Robin mather
IT had to happen sometime. Camden-friendly prodigal son of Britpop and purveyor of kitchen-sink anthems, Jarvis Cocker, launched his comeback at Koko.
By some strange coincidence which goes unmentioned by Jarvis, he relaunched himself as a solo artist on the very night his one-time Michael Jackson makes his first live appearance in the capital since the legendary meeting of the two at the 1996 Brit awards, when Cocker’s disdainful antics brought him to a wider public audience.
After an intro reminiscent of Spinal Tap’s Stonehenge, Jarvis hits the stage to a reception as good as Jackson’s – over at Earls Court – is bad.
He kicks off with the rocking Fat Children, from his eponymous new album. At 43 he is a little slower around the stage than in his Britpop pomp but still has both the moves and the between-song banter.
The new material dispenses with Pulp’s occasional lurch into tweeness and takes a more classic direction, perhaps because of the presence of the Mercury Award nominated Richard Hawley on guitar.
Cocker tells us this is only the band’s third gig together. From the assured racket they produce you would never guess.
Tellingly not a single pulp song is played or asked for by the crowd proving that Cocker’s new material really does stand up. Big Julie stands out as an orchestra tale of an ordinary girl tormented by her looks as does the ferocious Glitter Band stomp of Black Magic.
The encore Running The World shows that Jarvis has expanded his vision to take in a world-weary view of the planet’s ills and a surprise cover of Bowie’s Space Oddity wraps up a triumphant return.
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