Jarv Is…, Albert Hall, 2nd November 2021

I never saw Pulp live, one of my musical regrets. Watching Jarvis Cocker with his band Jarv Is…, isn’t really going to scratch that itch, if you’re here for Pulp songs, you’ve made a mistake. Jarvis’ post Pulp career has been great though, both his solo stuff and with this band. The gloves are off, not that Pulp were restrictive, but these days his wings are spread a little wider and this evening things get pretty cinematic and psychedelic, with the tone shifting through mournful and reflective to celebratory chaos. There’s plenty of the more delicate moments too and everything is of course overlaid with Cocker’s lyrical wit. He’s on fine form, throwing shapes, climbing on and jumping off the monitors. He’s chatty too, telling origin stories of the songs, cracking jokes and throwing leftover Halloween sweets into the audience. Despite it being sold out, I’ll be honest it’s a little bit quiet. I think some of the crowd were expecting more of the hits, but there’s some real bangers in this set. House Music All Night Long and Must I Evolve? sound huge and there’s plenty off the self titled debut. I particularly like Swanky Modes and Am I Missing Something and it’s these songs that the band seen most into. Cocker has used his lockdown time writing and the new album of songs for Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch is really good. We’re treated to a couple, but they fall a bit flat despite sounding great. The tempo does lift in the crowd for Fat Children and the only real singalong for Running The World, predictably. It’s a great gig, the band sound great, Jarvis sounds great, looks great, is charming, there’s lasers for fucks sake, but the audience I can’t help feel did make that mistake.