13. Father John MistyPure Comedy
The last concerts of the first Pulp reunion tour were on this Coachella cruise in 2012 – an ill-conceived idea that’s never happened again, but that we somehow got asked to headline. I was completely against doing it, because it just seemed like the wrong thing for Pulp to be doing, to be playing on a cruise for spoilt American kids that could afford $1,000 a ticket or whatever, but I ended up having to go along with it. There were not many bands on the bill that either I had heard of or was interested in, but on the first night, I went to this small discotheque and Father John Misty was playing there. I was totally blown away. It was a different band to the band that he’s used the last eight years or whatever, but they were such great players. The songs were great. It was intelligent. It was a whole concert of songs that I’d never heard by someone that I’d never heard. And I just loved it all.
Some people are probably a bit turned off by that smartypants attitude that he gives off, but he’s a great performer and a great songwriter. Pure Comedy is one of the albums where, if I’m on a long flight, I can put it on, fall asleep and be in a happy place – this, OK Computer or the early Elvis religious albums.
