Tramlines 2025: Pulp

Tramlines has gone from strength to strength since its inaugural festival in 2009. I first went in 2010, when it was still a series of free gigs in a town square and surrounding venues. Now, it’s a fully fledged weekend park festival, with the calibre to bag hometown heroes Pulp.

More on them later. First up was another local group, I Monster. Their gigs are few and far between these days and there was no shortage of people taking their chance to see the fly-masked electronic duo, so much so that I couldn’t get into the tent. They sounded on form from outside though, and the 00s classic ‘Daydream in Blue’ and cold fuzz of ‘Who Is She?’ were warmly received by the capacity crowd inside.

Next up was Baxter Dury, on the thankfully more spacious Sarah Nulty Main Stage. Dury occupies a strange space, somehow halfway between whimsical and sleazy. In opener ‘Leak at the Disco’ he claims he’s not prepared to dance at angles. It’s a lyric I’ve never understood, and him strutting across the stage pulling shapes like a crab hasn’t made it any clearer. He’ll always be an inscrutable character to me, but still a strangely magnetic performer and beautifully sentimental songwriter.

Back to the tent after that for the equally unique John Grant. There’s always a cheeky, self-aware sense of humour to Grant’s densely lyrical and intellectual electro-pop, as evidenced by him arriving with the first Keytar I’ve seen since Herbie Hancock. My personal set highlight was the deep pulsating synths of ‘Pale Green Ghosts’, though it arguably lost the crowd after a dark and atmospheric 6 minutes. Thankfully, self-affirmation anthem ‘GMF’ had them back in the palm of his hand. And to be fair, who doesn’t want to join in a sing-song about being the greatest mother fucker that you’re ever gonna meet?

Spiritualized always felt likely to struggle on a sunny outdoor stage, to a field waiting for Pulp. Despite an upbeat opener in ‘Hey Jane’, it unfortunately did feel that they failed to engage the crowd. There’s no doubting their artistry, but a swap into the more atmospheric tent, with Hot Chip bringing the party outside, might’ve worked better for both parties.

Aside from the odd single, Tramlines was Pulp’s first Sheffield show with new music for 24 years, after the release of new album ‘More’. They wasted no time in getting into it, with the instant classic ‘Spike Island’ serving as an excellent opener. A few more new ones follow, and though these (and an exhilarating rendition of ‘Got to Have Love’ later in the set) get a great reception, it’s the opening guitar riff of ‘Disco 2000’ that really sends Sheffield into a frenzy. None of the intensity has been lost in the years they’ve been away. With a few new members added to the band in those years, they sound as vital as ever. Meanwhile, at the front, Jarvis is as Jarvis as ever.

More Sheffield royalty is welcomed on stage later in the set, as Richard Hawley adds his considerable guitar noise to a huge version of ‘Sunrise’. As a teenager growing up not far from Sheffield, ‘Mis-Shapes’ was once what it felt like to go for a night out in the town centre. Now, I’m thinking about what a special moment it is for us (former?) weirdos to come together to celebrate that in such a big gathering. Nothing can come close, though, to the lyrical genius of ‘Common People’. To put that whole experience into one song, which also happens to be one of the biggest hands-in-the-air singalong anthems of all time, is one of the great triumphs of pop music. This song can never disappoint: the joy and catharsis in the air is truly incredible.

The sun has now set, and Richard Hawley returns for an acoustic rendition of ‘More’s’ final track, ‘A Sunset’. I don’t think it will be, but if Tramlines was the last time Pulp played live in Sheffield, it’s a beautiful and poignant way to end it.