Cocker and Co dazzle as Pulp make triumphant festival return at Neighbourhood Weekender

1996. That was the last time Pulp took to a Warrington stage, back when V Festival was a thing. With the Britpop icons having spent more than a decade away from live performances altogether, Sunday night’s headline booking was a monumental one for Neighbourhood Weekender.

On a sun-drenched bank holiday weekend, Victoria Park was treated to another stellar lineup of decade-spanning performances. Kula Shaker’s whirring psych guitars serving up an idyllic soundtrack, the familiar opening chords of Hush being met with resounding approval from the growing afternoon crowd, while Ella Henderson’s infectious pop power hits provided the perfect loosener.

Over in the Big Top, Confidence Man proved exactly why they’re one of the most coveted bookings around at the minute, tearing through their unique brand of dance-meets-pop-meets-clubland that’ll no doubt have them cemented at the top end of festival billings over the next couple of years.

With the sun slowly fading, attention firmly shifted towards the big one. It’s easy to get a little sceptical about what to expect from a band that’s been away for a prolonged period, especially one that is shrouded in as much folklore as Pulp. For many in the crowd, this will have been the first opportunity to see a group that hold their own personal corner in British music history, for the rest, it had been a very long time.

As the first arrangements of I Spy begin to creep through the speaker, an almost immediate hush overtakes the previously murmuring crowd. Then, in typically eccentric fashion, Cocker emerges, ascending from beneath the stage, immediately quelling any of those potential concerns that what was about to play out would be anything other than long overdue brilliance.

Disco 2000 quickly followed, met with pure ecstasy from an audience now bouncing in tandem. More hits, Do You Remember the First Time and Babies both trigger triumphant singalongs from all ages, while rarer deep cuts like Pink Glove and Weeds are surprising-yet-welcome inclusions in a festival setlist.

This is Hardcore, complete with a stunning orchestral introduction, is a reminder of Pulp’s ability to seamlessly blend the upbeat with something much darker, and is one of the set’s standout moments.

To finish, it was only ever going to be Common People. A track that unites the numerous generations of Pulp fans present, causing a mass eruption of joy, shouting, euphoria, everything you could possibly want from a festival closer. Without missing a beat and as sharp, witty and relevant as they ever have been, Pulp are back.