Back in the mid-’90s, Oasis assured us that we were gonna live forever, but they were smart enough to say nothing of the scene that propelled them to icon status. A sonic comet of swagger, pizzazz and brilliant fucking songs, Britpop was more than just a four-letter word extended by three, it was a cultural movement that brought the style and flair of Cool Britannia to places far beyond the dank stalls of The Good Mixer and into the lives of all who got it on a spiritual level. It sent Americans to the import bins and magazine racks of long-gone record shops, it packed indie dance floors with anthem after anthem, and gave a subculture a common soundtrack and wardrobe to find like minded heads who were all mad fer it.
But a few short years later, the good times were fading for the purveyors of the cause, and Pulp had the good sense to eulogize the whole fucking charade by 1998. Three decades alter, many who lined the covers of Select, NME, and Melody Maker are all banging on nicely, releasing some of their finest work in decades (hello, Suede) and now packing American stadiums (goodbye, Oasis).
Sure, my old fine China, the Brothers Gallagher decided to skip Boston on this massive reunion tour — lingering feelings over that Local 186 gig perhaps? — but the month of September brings about a startling lineup of shows that will help us relive the magic and the moments of the greatest scene that never was. It feels like the ’90s all over again, but be warned; this won’t last. After all, as we used to say at The Pill, “tomorrow never happened.”
James at House of Blues on September 9
If there was one last safe space to reside in this angry and anxious world, it would be within the comforting voice of Tim Booth. The James frontman — who we first interviewed for utterly brilliant 2014 album La Petite Mort and again five years later for the remarkably self-aware Living In Extraordinary Times — has been providing vocal therapy to countless listeners over the past several decades, and while the Manchester icons’ career far predates Britpop and has endured long after the last party (see our Q&As), it’s their 1993 album Laid that helped shape its sound and feel. Alongside other formative records of that year, like Blur’s Modern Life Is Rubbish, Suede’s self-titled debut, and The Auteurs’ New Wave, Laid is a master stroke in melancholic grandeur and emotive richness. American audiences will be forever horny for the title-track, a karaoke standard that first became a gateway drug of sexual ambiguity for many lost teens here in the states and everywhere else, but the rest of the record — which James perform in full on this tour — is filled with hypnotic magic, from the opening lucidity of “Out To Get You” to the riled-up emotion of “Sometimes” and “Say Something.” Mother of fuck, what a record.
JAMES :: Tuesday, September 9 at The House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $40 to $50 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Supergrass at House of Blues on September 12
Cursed is the artist who as a teen pens a punk-ish romp about getting nabbed by the cops for a lil’ bit of weed, only to be forced to perform that song decades later for adoring audiences. But the only true curse Supergrass bring to town this week for the 30th anniversary of debut album I Should Coco is why Gaz Coombes (revisit our 2016 interview) and the lads weren’t bigger all around the world. Coco has its share of bangers — the aforementioned “Caught By The Fuzz”; the plucky “Mansize Rooster”; and the blissed-out “Alright”, inexplicably given new life recently in the American TV commercial circuit — but the ‘Grass’ later work, especially 1999’s self-titled, stereo-pumpin’ rock and roll powderkeg and 2005’s mature and textured Road to Rouen deserve equal accolades. In any event, this should be one fun, sweaty party on Lansdowne. And it’s been a minute since any of us felt alright.
SUPERGRASS: I SHOULD COCO | 30TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR :: Friday, September 12 at House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages, $50 to $82 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Pulp at The Stage at Suffolk Downs on September 13
With apologies to Knebworth, the true height of Britpop came as Pulp headlined Glastonbury 1995, replacing The Stone Roses atop the bill and instantly entrenching Jarvis Cocker as a true British icon. Pulp’s art-school weirdness crossed over to the mainstream in the Britpop era, giving all the broken people a sense of voyeuristic pride as they watched the other luminaries duke it out amongst each other in the press. Britpop’s most perfect album, 1995’s Different Class, was the apex of the scene, the middle part in a trilogy of inspired songwriting that began with His N’ Hers a year prior and concluded, for all involved, with This Is Hardcore just three years later. Three decades on, Pulp return to North America, with new album More in tow, and we think this is their first Boston show in 27 years, when Jarvis stormed out onto the Paradise Rock Club stage and seemed taken aback by how close the balcony was. Help the aged, indeed. (And hey, RIP Steve Mackey, we miss you.)
PULP + HAMILTON LEITHAUSER :: Saturday, September 13 at The Stage at Suffolk Downs, 525 William F. McClellan Highway in Boston, MA :: 5:30 p.m., all ages :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Wet Leg at Roadrunner on September 14
Wait, what? Wet Leg are not Britpop. Do they even know what a CD1 and CD2 single is? Doesn’t matter. The indie darlings from Isle of Wight released maybe the greatest Britpop album in 25 years in this year’s AOTY contender Moisturizer, and — apologies to anyone who might get mad at this — the band’s sophomore album feels like what we should have gotten for the second Elastica record. There’s an unhinged raucousness to Wet Leg’s sound that might be single-handedly preventing the indie nights across the land from being 100% retro-minded, and tracks like “mangetout” and “catch these fists” (Song of the Year, innit?) are making us feel young and alive again. Britpop was always a lad’s game, but if Wet Leg were around 30 years ago, they could have fucked things up so nicely.
WET LEG + MARY IN THE JUNKYARD :: Sunday, September 14 at Roadrunner, 89 Guest St. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., all ages :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Kula Shaker at Brighton Music Hall on September 21
The retro-minded headlines are all heralding Oasis’ return, new albums by Suede and Pulp, and whatever it is Damon Albarn seems to be doing at any given moment, but many other bands from the era are also doing the damn thing. Menswe@r and Sleeper gave it another go a few years back, Gene just extended a run of successful reunion shows, and Kula Shaker have been hitting America with a consistent one-two punch of new music and tours for a while now. The band’s show at Brighton Music Hall just before the pandemic was a fun romp through the hits we all knew and loved off every Best Album In The World…Ever comp, and let’s face it, no conversation about the greatest cover ever is complete without Crispian Mills’ and the boys’ lively rip through “Hush” by Deep Purple. That one killed at The Pill back in North Station, yeah. Britpop was always better in the dark and sweaty clubs, and all these years later, Kula Shaker still know how to throw it down — without needing to stand around with thousands of other people in stadiums and fields annoying the fuck out of you.
KULA SHAKER + LEVITATION ROOM :: Sunday, September 21 at Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave. in Allston, MA :: 7 p.m., 18-plus, $25 to $42 :: Event info :: Advance tickets