“Do you prefer Ashley or Mary Kate?“
It’s been three years since PUP had a proper visit to the UK fully on their own terms. Buoyed by the warm reception of their latest record, they smashed out a perfect set with their unique charisma that continues to draw the ideal audience. The band pulled out some quirky supports (locals goo and the Californian Illuminati Hotties) to keep the bill mixed and the audience learning.
Words by Dobbin T from the London date, and photography by Jahla Fisher from the Manchester date – contact Jahla prior to any use.
goo
It was up to goo to represent the UK for easygoing punk music within the night’s line-up. Metrics are bullshit, but they suggest the band were getting an incredible opportunity. They were playing to a venue with capacity equal to their monthly listener count on the narrowly-most-evil streaming platform. That’s not at all to say they weren’t ready – they played their woozy pop songs with aplomb – but it does mean the crowd would be theirs to convince. Their catalogue is ditty-central, but my interest was most captured by this ‘mini epic’ that was the set’s centrepiece. Busting out a synth feature over a hook that went “smile as you go” with tempo switches designed to make you bust a move. The bridge was a feedback blast followed by a solo out of a Baroness epic. Less up my street was their closer “Call In Sick”, straightforward to its detriment but sensible fun nonetheless. With lots of spontaneous dancing and wiggling, many were convinced by the band. I’ll pause before I try to name every band in the UK scene, but suffice to say, if enjoyed saw goo on this tour, you’ve just seen the tip of our iceberg – get out to your local venues when you can get acts like this the limelight they deserve.
Illuminati Hotties
Anecdotally, Illuminati Hotties don’t have a significant following in the UK (yet), last playing a headliner at the cosy MOTH club. They’re long-time friends of PUP with Sarah Tudzin singing all over their recent work, even touring together back in the Morbid Stuff era. Illuminati Hotties aren’t precisely aligned to PUP’s sound, sounding much glossier, more indie and pop, and much less ‘punk’. Out with the self-deprecation; in with self-reflection, sisterhood, and romance. Tudzin is their charismatic singer and songwriter, conducting a mostly unfamiliar crowd with confidence. She taught the crowd “freequent letdown”’s chorus and spurred a friendly mosh for the quicktime “Joni: LA’s No. 1 Health Goth”. My highlights included their newest tracks: the dreamy “777” from their upcoming EP, and “Wreck My Life” for which Stefan Babcock joined to do his vocal feature.
PUP
The crowd packed in tight just ahead of PUP’s set, and to nobody’s surprise things immediately got rowdy as they launched into their set. PUP make a point of encouraging friendly crowd dynamics at every show, which, in my experience, plays out. This is no doubt helped by the fact they go hard without entering ‘hardcore’ territory. Furthermore, their audience is composed of people who mostly get how to behave, being relatively mature in age (that’s relative to your average pop punk band). All of this adds up to a great experience for those near the front, and the set-up of O2 Forum Kentish Town has always been one of the best for those who prefer to hang back, be that seated or standing.
PUP have a challenge these days as their five album discography all begs for a slice of the set list. Much of it was from Who Will Look After The Dogs? – if you’re used to crowds nodding off during the ‘new stuff’, think again for PUP. From “No Hope” to “Hallways” the new ones went down a treat, choruses sung back to the band after just three weeks in the wild. Some banger omissions were “Needed To Hear It” and “Best Revenge” which will have to wait for another tour. The renditions of “Olive Garden” and “Hunger For Death” were convincing enough to endear me to my least favourites from the new record, the latter getting a bigger intro to let the crowd calm down after some intense tracks.
Needless to say, the remainder of the choices from the back catalogue were fantastic. PUP are a live band through and through, especially when they’re pulling out the incredible duos “Morbid Stuff / Kids” and “If This Tour Doesn’t Kill You / DVP” in the middle of the set. “Scorpion Hill” might be an easy omission if the band due to its length, but they doubled down on it, making its tempo changes even bigger for greater impact. My absolute highlight of the set has to be “Bloody Mary, Kate & Ashley”, a deep cut from Morbid Stuff. Famously played in the legendary CBC Music set where Babcock was ‘relieved’ to have it over with, the complexity of the track is a decent reason to leave it out of the set. Somehow they added it to the set mid-tour and left Instagram to vote between it and “PUPTHEBAND Inc. Is Filing For Bankruptcy”. They pre-apologised for how well it would come out, but over my singing, I don’t think anyone could tell if they were hitting bum notes.
A cosy moment came when Steve Sladkowski singled out one audience member, Neil, who had been spotted on the barrier at every London PUP show (I can corroborate this – he got a similar shout-out at the Roundhouse show in 2022). This time was extra special as it was Neil’s 67th birthday, prompting the band to attempt an instrumental ‘Happy Birthday’ cover. The cosy atmosphere stuck around until the end as Sarah Tudzin and Tanisha Badman of Goo joined for classic “Reservoir”, and Babcock risked a crowd-surf for the closer “Full Blown Meltdown”. An interesting admission from the band was their gratitude for the crowd’s enthusiasm, directly implying that opening for Jimmy Eat World left them feeling a bit undervalued. Departing without an encore (as we wish more bands would), it’s safe to say that UK audiences have never been more enthusiastic for PUP and the tours they bring.