Pulp to reform (again) for 2023 concerts

Do you remember the first time … Pulp return for round three. Photograph: Christie Goodwin/Redferns

Britpop legends Pulp are to reform and play gigs again in 2023, the band have announced.

After posting a cryptic caption to Instagram last week referencing their sixth album, This Is Hardcore, frontman Jarvis Cocker confirmed the reunion during a Guardian Live event on Monday night.

“Next year Pulp are going to play some concerts!” he said, to huge cheers from the audience.

Speaking to BBC Radio Sheffield on Tuesday, drummer Nick Banks – who confirmed the reunion was “a couple of months” into the planning stage – said the band had a list of “potential” dates and venues but that nothing was confirmed as yet.

He also posted about the reunion on Twitter, asking fans to “stay calm” and hug their Pulp records.

Hey folks, unsurprisingly it’s has all gone a bit mental on here. Gig details will be revealed as and when.

Stay calm, hug your #pulp records and dream of going mental sometime in 2023.

— Nick Banks (@therealnickbank) July 25, 2022

This isn’t the Sheffield band’s first reunion. After splitting in 2002, after the release of seventh album, We Love Life, the five-piece reunited in 2011 for a series of festival dates.

While new music was rumoured nothing emerged, with Cocker telling Q magazine the band were “cruising off into the sunset”. They split again in 2013.