Tramlines 2025: Pulp rock Hillsborough Park with memorable hometown performance

Tramlines always brings the party to Sheffield. And let me tell you, Hillsborough Park was absolutely bouncing this evening.

In only their fourth hometown performance since the millennium – and purportedly their first open-air gig in the city – Pulp wowed with a 105-minute set on the Sarah Nulty Main Stage.

A packed crowd stretched as far as the eye could see, and cheers erupted as Jarvis Cocker’s silhouette rose on to the stage before he launched the opening track: Spike Island.

Compared to recent setlists from the band’s UK tour, there were new additions that tailored it to celebrating their Sheffield roots. Slow Jam and Sorted for E’s and Wizz were dedicated to the iconic former West Street nightclub The Limit, and there was also a rare performance of 1993 song Sheffield: Sex City.

Most significantly, however, there was a special appearance from another local star: Richard Hawley. A former touring guitarist with the band, he joined them on stage for Sunrise, followed by a poignant live debut for Last Day of the Miners’ Strike. The latter of which purposefully weaved in flashes of Margaret Thatcher’s Spitting Image puppet to the images on the screens.

Hawley later returned to the stage for Common People, which animated all generations of the Tramlines crowd into a roaring chorus. Of many moments, I suspect that will be the thing that marks it as a set talked about for years to come. The finale – A Sunset – was in comparison a more delicate way to round off the evening.

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Jarvis Cocker and all the band were on top form with a flawless, high-energy performance throughout the night. And, as ever, Cocker is a frontman that knows how to work a crowd. He was down of the front row guessing what parts of Sheffield people were from and, as is becoming routine, distributing chocolates and grapes from his pockets to the crowd.

One thing he was keen to point out though was the calibre of other artists that performed on day one. A day which was, of course, curated by Pulp.

Spanish Horses kicked off proceedings to people filing into the park just after noon, and were followed by an electric set from rising Sheffield group Femur. Reverend and the Makers’ Ed Cosens, indie artist Baxter Dury, and rock band Spiritualised were also on the Main Stage bill.

As were Oracle Sisters – enjoying a wave of success following the release of their latest album, Divinations, earlier this year. Singer Lewis Lazar told The Sheffield Tab performing in the city for the first time was “a bit of a dream come true” as “a lot of bands we like come out of Sheffield”.

Over on T’Other Stage, punk poet John Cooper Clarke delivered his trademark wit to a very full tent. A whole range of the next wave of artists also took to stages across the park during the day, including the public’s Apply to Play winner Marples on The Open Arms Stage.

Not at Tramlines this year? You can stay up to date with all the latest with The Sheffield Tab. Plus, you can also head to the city centre for the Tramlines Fringe, where – for free – you can see more than 400 live performances across this weekend.