Headphones On

In many ways, that show was the defining moment of my addiction to ‘Britpop’. If the same two bands had toured in England they would have sold out Alexandra Palace or other equally huge venues, yet here I was an impressionable kid of 17, seeing them on a small stage in front of 600 other people.

Let’s start with Blur. Blur was why I was there afterall. I had discovered them through the English music press many years before. Their 1993 record, Modern Life is Rubbish, was one of the most defining records of my young life thus far. Their new record Parklife had been on constant rotation in my discman and car in the month since it’s release. “Girls and Boys" was becoming the dance anthem to my high school days. I’d already labeled myself as a “Graham Girl" and not one of Damon’s many groupies. The quiet, shy, smoking guitar player was my hero. I’d never seen Blur live before and looked forward to this show like nothing else. I bought tickets with my friend (and band-mate at the time) Z.

Pulp, I’d heard of Pulp³. We had found an advance of their latest record His n Hers in a used bin at Bizy Bee in Naperville. I’d listened and already fallen in love with songs like “Joyriders" and “Do You Remember The First Time?" I would still say that at that point I’d grown more in love with the idea of Pulp than the band themselves. I’d, of course, never seen them live either. They’d *never* come to America and this would be their first ever stateside show. His n Hers wouldn’t be released until a week or two later in America so they were set to play to crowds who’d be lucky if they’d ever heard of them.

We showed up early and staked out the venue⁴ and then stood in the quickly lengthening line. We weren’t early enough to get a spot against the stage but still were a respectable four or five people back. Sometime around 7:30 the six members of Pulp came out onto the stage (including the oft uncredited member Mark). I remember thinking how huge the stage looked to me then. I don’t think anyone on the floor that night knew what to make of the band, a bit scruffy, oh-so-English and looking slightly nervous. The band started into “Lipgloss" and I could feel the crowd behind me start to surge forward to get a closer look at this gorgeous, full sound coming from such a haphazard bunch of Brits. Jarvis danced around in a tweed blazer, appearing by his jerky mannerisms to be all elbows. I closed my eyes to listen without being distracted by the lanky dancing man. The sound stopped and I opened my eyes again. They’d only garnered a smattering of applause, nowhere near the raucous display I already thought they’d deserved⁵. Jarvis was calm, took an apple out of his coat pocket and made a loud CRUNCH into the mic and began to talk with his mouth full of apple.

He proceeded to tell the (again, quiet and reserved Chicagoans) the story of losing his virginity. The tale meandered to recently being released from a cast and wheelchair as he’d fallen out of a window in a vain attempt to impress some girl. The venue was silent except for a few hecklers here or there wanting them to get on with the music already. Jarvis paid no notice.

1, 2, 3, 4... “Do you remember the first time?" That was it, I was sold. The crowd got more and more animated as the band made their way through “Acrylic Afternoons", “Razzmatazz" and “Babies". By the time Russell, Candida, Steve, et al left the stage my eyes were full of stars and my ears were humming “Razzmatazz" all on their own. His n Hers has been on my Top 10 Discs of All Time since the very second they left that stage.

Blur was up next. A quick gear-breakdown and the venue is now to capacity. I’ve barely secured a few inches to breathe in the middle of the floor. I wish now that I could tell you the setlist, give more specifics of the songs or sound but it’s all fuzzy. We danced, we screamed, applauded, Z nearly got in a fistfight with some guy who was pushing me and somehow we ended up dancing on the cushy couches on the back of the main floor. It was the perfect vantage point when they started into “Parklife" and “Girls and Boys" (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 fingers). Damon was a drunken mess but the most entertaining drunken mess I’d ever seen in my life. He climbed the stacks of speakers, he danced on TOP of his Moog, he screamed into the mic as if his life depended upon it. The set and the encores went way too quickly. Show over.

We don’t leave, we never did in those days. We ended up meeting up with all of Pulp⁶, Graham, Damon and Dave (Alex gave Z two fingers before shoving some girl into the back of a cab). We made new friends that night who shared our musical outlook on life. All that’s just the icing on an already miraculously tasty cake. That show changed things, it changed me. That’s “why" September 17, 1994.

¹ I paraphrase of course.
² There is no two.
³ Pulp had been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and had learned moments before hopping on a transcontinental flight that they’d lost out on the prestige (and cash) to M People. They’d barely had time to comprehend their loss by the time their flight touched down in O’Hare and they were being whisked with their gear to the venue.
⁴ I was not yet familiar with every local music venue... being a kid who was rarely allowed to go into the city after hours.
⁵ Come to think of it, this may have been the start of my annoyance with too-reserved Chicago live music fans.
⁶ Somewhere I have the Pulp poster we ripped off the door of The Vic signed by all the members of Pulp and Damon & Graham of Blur. Jarvis scrawled “It took ages to get it like this" with an arrow pointing to the illustration on the poster. I have a photo of him writing this. For unknown reasons I had the photo signed when the band came back to town in 1996 on the Different Class tour but that show is an entirely different story full of British tour managers and being snuck into SmartBar (underage obviously) by Jarvis.

Buy some: Pulp, Blur. Listen to: Jarvis’ new song “Running The World"