Jarvis Cocker and Chilly Gonzales have teamed up for a performance of Tina Turner‘s ‘Private Dancer’ at the Royal Albert Hall.
Last night (October 28), Gonzales took over the famed London venue and performed tracks from his recent album ‘GONZO’ which was released last month. For the eighth song of the night, the Pulp frontman – who had been previously announced as a special guest of the night – joined the Canadian musician for a rendition of Turner’s 1984 song.
The duo’s rendition of ‘Private Dancer’ was slower than the original track with Gonzales at the grand piano and Cocker singing the lyrics while remaining straightfaced, turning the upbeat track into a more stripped-back, dramatic tune.
Cocker returned later in the show for a performance of ‘Tearjerker’ from the duo’s collaborative album ‘Room 29‘. Gonzales and the ‘Common People’ singer teamed up on the album back in 2017, described at the time as “a song-cycle concerning the goings-on in Room 29 of the Château Marmont hotel in Hollywood.” In 2020, the two teamed up once again on Gonzales’ Christmas album ‘A Very Chilly Christmas’
Elsewhere, Pulp recently debuted yet another new song while on their US tour titled ‘Farmer’s Market’. This follows other new tracks including ‘Spike Island’, ‘My Sex’, and ‘You’ve Got To Have Love’.
Intrigue about new material from Pulp has been swirling in recent months. For instance, the frontman was recently spotted in Walthamstow by a fan, and reportedly told them that the band were heading “back in the studio”.
That took place just days after Pulp performed at Flow Festival 2024 and used their set to debut a new song titled ‘A Sunset’, which was co-written by Richard Hawley.
Before then, the vocalist spoke to NME and suggested the song could be officially released at some point, as well as confirming Pulp’s touring plans for 2025. The band will perform their first dates of the year in January at Japan’s Rockin’ On Sonic festival alongside Manic Street Preachers, Primal Scream, The Lemon Twigs and Wednesday, among others.
Pulp’s last full-length release was 2001’s ‘We Love Life‘. In a three-star review of the LP, NME described the record as “a grandiose, symphonic affair buoyed by succinct orchestration and white-light choral interludes”. It added: “At times, the music really sparkles as it soars above Cocker’s bleakly-intoned spoken-word meditations.”
