What would you say to Bob Dylan if you bumped into him at the Trader Joe’s in downtown Minneapolis? As unlikely as that scenario seems, Jarvis Cocker was willing to entertain it. During British rock band Pulp’s return performance in Minneapolis — 29 years after they played First Ave — the engaging frontman was filled with generous bravado during a magical performance.

On several occasions, Cocker cracked self-deprecating jokes about the chance encounter with the Minnesota-born icon who was performing across town at Farm Aid. Pulp’s two-hour set at Armory was no flippant affair, however. Touring on their first album of new material since 2001, More, the group showcased a brilliant connectivity. Their powerful arrangements would’ve been plenty to watch and dissect even without their leader’s eyeball-pulling dance moves.

Cocker shared that Friday, Sept. 19, was his 62nd birthday. Despite making a point to note that he couldn’t quite hit the high notes at the end of the chorus of “Help the Aged” (all the songs were performed in their original key, he noted) Cocker remains a total master of the stage. Amid an impeccable stage and visuals, his 6’2” frame was still the main attraction.

All night long, Jarvis was “shouting and pointing,” as he describes himself in the band’s triumphant recent single, “Spike Island.” It’s a year to be excited about Oasis being back on the road, and equally grand to see and hear another group from the Brit-Pop era continuing in fine form after a lengthy absence.

The locked-in nine-piece band featured a core of Cocker and long-time keyboardist Candida Doyle, guitarist Mark Webber, and drummer Nick Banks. This smaller group came together mid-set to play “Something Changed” in stripped-down fashion. According to Cocker, they were recreating the fateful apartment rehearsal that convinced them that yes, they still had enough in them to perform to their high standards. Filling out the densely packed arrangements for most of the night was a touring group including bassist Andrew McKinney, Emma Smith on guitar and violin, percussionist Jason Buckle, and Adam Betts on keyboards, guitar, and percussion.

Formed in 1978 in Sheffield, England, Pulp had a slow build to the notoriety and success they saw in the mid-’90s. One of the key members from that era, bassist Steve Mackey, died in 2023. Before he passed, Mackey worked on a pair of songs that appear on the band’s eighth album, More.

Pulp played faithful and vigorous interpretations of the music that inspired Twin Cities-area fans like myself to dig through their import singles and pore over their stylish looks in Q magazine at now-departed Let It Be Records. Fans of their 1995 breakthrough album, Different Class, got a heaping serving ahead of the album’s 30th anniversary on Oct. 30. Cocker gave recollections of recovering from a tropical disease on the band’s last visit, a full-throttle 1996 show at First Avenue. (There were roars from the crowd when he asked if anyone had attended that show, and he followed with mock surprise, saying we didn’t look a day older than 30.)

The energy in the Armory was electric all night long. Songs were sequenced to allow for some reflective moments in between the dancefloor candy like “Disco 2000,” “Mis-Shapes,” and, naturally, the song with a grand life of its own, “Common People.” Pulp still put everything they’ve got into a song they’ve been expected to play every time they’ve graced a stage for the past three decades. Cocker and co. drew it out even further with band introductions towards the end. With the double heartbeat of the keyboard part pumping, Cocker strolled around the multi-tiered stage with a handheld video camera to show a kaleidoscopic shots of the band one-by-one on the big screen.

All night, the screen visuals upped the material’s intensity and impact. A red curtain and chandelier were motifs for the moody “This Is Hardcore,” the disco ball dropped for jubilant new song “Got to Have Love,” and they dug up vintage band footage for early hit “Babies.” Mixing past and present Pulp iconography with vintage film footage and views of the natural world, the colors were bright and bold. There was no pyro, but they engaged a line of those inflatable flopping “air dancers” you see at used car lots for “The Fear.”

Opener Hamilton Leithauser, the Walkmen’s frontman with a fiery voice, warmed up the crowd with a set similar to the one he and a three-piece backing band played for Yacht Club Festival attendees just a few months back. The confessional collection showcased his powerful upper vocal range and observant eye for multidimensional characters. He dedicated the title track to his latest album, My Side of the Island, to his departed cat Wanda. Compared to an afternoon in the grass on Harriet Island, the darkened Armory upped the intimacy of his performance, especially on the meditative “In a Black Out” from I Had a Dream That You Were Mine, his 2016 collaboration with Rostam.

In total, the unbuttoned formal looks of Pulp and Leithhauser made the night feel like a very adult affair — with a few caveats. Over the band’s existence, Pulp’s creative sleight of hand has been about their artistic contrasts. They are serious musicians who meld together the slick influences of vintage French pop, disco, and lounge music into something wholly unique and refined — and then inject enough dry wit to dispel accusations of taking themselves too seriously. Sure, the material skewers society and defies convention, but it’s far too clever to be taken as sheer novelty.

Take “Grown Ups,” a highlight from More, on which Webber played one of the band’s catchiest guitar hooks yet. The song, which takes on the funny (but not always “funny haha”) perils of aging in all of its phases, spoke pointedly to an audience ranging from folks of Cocker’s generation on down to pre-teens. Even if the song is thoroughly begrudging, Cocker seemed genuinely glad to get to celebrate another birthday and to spend it in the Twin Cities. Judging by his mentions of Trader Joe’s and some killer empanadas — which could’ve been the Boludo location nearby — he marked the occasion not far from the venue. At many moments, Cocker broke character to appreciate the belated birthday gift in front of him: the warmth of Saturday night’s crowd.

Pulp

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Hamilton Leithauser

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Setlist

Sorted for E’s & Wizz
Disco 2000
Spike Island
F.E.E.L.I.N.G.C.A.L.L.E.D.L.O.V.E.
Grown Ups
Partial Eclipse
This Is Hardcore
Sunrise
Something Changed (Acoustic)
O.U. (Gone Gone)
Dyrtft
Mis-Shapes
Got to Have Love
Babies
Common People

Encore

The Fear
Razzmatazz
Help the Aged
Like a Friend
A Sunset