Pulp Plays Berlin for the First Time Since 1998

Twenty-eight years after their last Berlin show, Pulp returned to the city this month for two sold-out nights at Tempodrom. The gap—stretching back to 1998, with the city skipped entirely during the 2002 tour—made these summer dates land differently. Not a reunion lap, but a rare, focused appearance following the strong reception to their comeback album, More.

Cocker, now 62, walked through the crowd to the stage as massive inflatable tube men flailed in front of the drum riser and sardonic on-screen text declared the entire show an encore. From the opening lines, his voice sat remarkably close to the recorded versions—thin phone clips, he seemed to suggest, don’t capture the fullness. What stood out more was the physical performance. During “Sorted for E’s & Wizz” he swayed, shuffled, and jumped with a foxy, slightly mischievous ease that pulled from the late ’90s without nostalgia’s stiffness.

The band crowded the stage—veteran players, newer collaborators—but the show belonged to Cocker’s presence. He wasn’t revisiting old moves as much as still living inside them. For an audience that had waited decades, the night didn’t so much close a gap as make the wait feel like an editorial choice.