THE AUTO FESTIVAL.
AT ROTHERHAM MAGNA CENTRE. 14/ 12/ 02.
The Auto Festival was not a Pulp gig. The other bands playing were not there to support Pulp. They were there in their own right. The festival was �a platform for current musical, visual and multi-media projects in unconventional spaces�. It took place in the Magna Centre near Rotherham two weeks before Christmas.
We arrived there quite early. It was dark. It was cold. It was foggy. The place looked like a prison. It was colder inside than what it was outside. It was a fantastic venue though. There were four different stages. We went straight to Auto Three were Pulp were playing later in the night. As soon as we got in there, Jarvis was on stage. He was DJing as part of the Desperate Sound System. His taste in music is weird man. He played lots of weird shit.
The first geezer on was James Yorkston. He played acoustic based laid back kind of music. He was funny, he was Irish. He wasn�t Jarvis though. I really didn�t care about the other bands that were playing. I was only there for Pulp. John Peel was ment to be DJing next. He didn�t turn up though. No idea why. Nobody said. Didn�t matter though. It ment we got another DJ set from Jarvis, during which somebody threw onstage an outfit for his baby. I had never heard anything by Baxter Dury. They were really good. They were mellow and had three vocalists. They had good songs. The Bees however were very disappointing. I was expecting better. They were really boring to watch. I was glad to get them out of the way.
At 10.30pm, 20 minutes later than billed, on came Pulp. The crowd surged forward. It was time to party. It was time to party hard. When Jarvis walked on stage, a strange feeling passed through me. I was soooooooooooooo excited and happy. They launched into �Do You Remember The First Time?�. It was amazing. The crowd went crazy. It was definitely the best Pulp crowd I had been part of. Then came �Lipgloss�. Wow! I had never seen them perform it live before. It�s great on CD but live it is just fantastic. Pure class.
Things calmed down alittle for �Bad Cover Version�. B-side �Lyndhurst Grove� followed it. They hadn�t sung it in years. Jarvis apologised beforehand in case it went wrong. He was on top form and feeling very energetic. He wouldn�t keep still. His in between song banter was as funny as ever. He too got in the party mood, bringing along peanuts and Haribo for the crowd. When throwing out the peanuts, he warned those with allergies to close their mouths.
�Something Changed� was one of the real highlights. Everyone joined in. the atmosphere throughout the night was amazing. �Sorted For E�s And Whizz� came next. It was a greatest hits set tonight. �Razzmatazz� totally rocked. It�s another track I had never seen them perform before. I�m sooooooo glad they sang it. The crowd were going mental to it. Everyone was jumping and having the time of their lives.
�Weeds� went down well but seemed alittle out of place in between what were some of Pulp�s biggest hits. �This Is Hardcore� was the only track performed from the album of the same name. Was great to see the seven minute epic live again. It was followed by �I Love Life� and probably the best live version of �Sunrise� I have seen. That song totally rocks live. Javis went crazy during it. His unique style of dancing is great to watch.
They walked off stage. My happiness turned to sadness. I realised what I was about to witness would probably be the last time I ever saw Pulp. There was about a five minute wait before they returned for their encore. New track �Last Day Of The Miner�s Strike�, from the Greatest Hits album, was written in on the set-list but was not performed. Maybe they felt it wouldn�t be appropriate to perform a new track or maybe they just didn�t have time for it. I dunno.
The rumours about this gig been Pulp�s last were pretty much confirmed when the band performed �Happy Endings�. After it, Jarvis finally handed out the Haribo kiddies supermix that he teased us with earlier. I didn�t get any. Ah well. I prefer Haribo starmix anyway. I nearly cried during �Babies�, one of my all time favourite tracks. It was very moving but I would have been really disappointed if they hadn�t performed it. Then came the end of an era in the form of �Common People�. The last song of the last gig. Jarvis said little about the split, only that �we may meet again sometime�. And with that they were gone. I really hope we get to see them again sometime.
Pulp had finished but the festival hadn�t. We went over to Auto One for The Kills. They were playing on a really small stage in the entrance area of Magna, just opposite the toilets. They were good but after Pulp everything was gonna be somewhat of an anti-climax. Nothing or nobody could compare to what was probably one of the best Pulp gigs ever.
Royksopp were amongst the bands and DJ�s headlining the event but we were tired and had a long journey home so decided to leave early. Steve from Pulp organised Auto and said he would like to hold another one next year. Maybe it will be Pulp�s come back gig? We live in hope.
BY MR MARTYN. DECEMBER 2002. |