Pulp play unreleased song "Hymn Of The North" at hometown show

During the second of two shows at Sheffield's Utilita Arena, at part of their first live shows in over a decade, Pulp treated fans to a previously unheard of track. "Hymn Of The North" was originally written by Jarvis Cocker, as a solo track for the 2019 play Light Falls, which was written by Manchester playwright Simon Stephens.

“OK, I can promise you that no one has ever heard this song except for us on this stage – actually, that was a lie,” said Cocker. “It’s a song – the kind of version of it was featured in a play by a guy called Simon Stephens and it’s called "Hymn Of The North". We are in the North so we thought you should hear it first.”

"We had some minor discussions about whether we should play it. There's a lot that could go wrong with it – I'm playing the piano for a start," he continued as he was joined on the piano stool by another musician.

During their set, there was a appearance from one-time member Richard Hawley, who joined the band for renditions of both "Sunrise" and "Common People". Hawley was also the support act for both nights at Utilita Arena.

Pulp previously reunited in 2010 as the Different Class line-up (Cocker, Nick Banks, Candida Doyle, Steve Mackey, Russell Senior and Mark Webber), and toured Europe and Australia in 2011. Their last full show was in December 2012 in Sheffield.