Fifteen years since their last visit to Australia, Pulp are set to make their Sydney Opera House debut with two open-air Forecourt shows on Friday 6 and Saturday 7 March 2026. Under the sails and beneath the stars, Jarvis Cocker and company will deliver a career-spanning celebration of British wit, working-class poetry and irresistible disco-laced grooves.
These performances arrive off the back of the band’s long-awaited comeback album More (2025), their first studio release in 24 years. The record finds Pulp at their sharpest and most reflective — a continuation of the art-school storytelling and post-industrial glamour that made them icons of the 1990s. Fans can expect anthems from Different Class and His ’n’ Hers to collide with the new material that has reignited their creative fire.
Formed in Sheffield in 1978, Pulp rose from the UK’s post-punk underground to reshape pop music’s narrative through songs about everyday life, sex, and social mobility. With Different Class earning the Mercury Prize in 1996, and Common People becoming an anthem for generations, Pulp’s legacy has always been about seeing beauty and absurdity in the same breath — a mirror to Britain’s contradictions and charisma.
Also announced as part of the Opera House’s summer lineup, Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek will make their own Australian debut in the Utzon Room on Thursday 12 March 2026. The German-Turkish vocalist and bağlama player leads the collective through an intoxicating blend of 70s Anatolian psych, cosmic funk and Turkish folk, performing songs from their acclaimed 2025 album Yarın Yoksa. Their hypnotic fusion and rich cultural storytelling offer a fitting counterpoint to Pulp’s theatrical Britpop modernism.
Opera House Head of Contemporary Music Ben Marshall called Pulp’s arrival “a genuine buzz,” describing Cocker’s live presence as “sharp, subversive and joyously alive.” For both acts, it’s a moment that bridges eras and continents — a meeting of two distinctive visions of how music can move, provoke, and connect.
EVENT DETAILS
WHO: Pulp
WHEN: Friday 6 & Saturday 7 March 2026, gates 6pm
WHERE: Forecourt, Sydney Opera House
TICKETS: $159.90 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
Insiders pre-sale: 9am AEDT, Tuesday 4 November
Artist pre-sale: 9am AEDT, Wednesday 5 November
SOH What’s On pre-sale: 12pm AEDT, Wednesday 5 November
General Public on sale: 9am AEDT, Friday 7 November
WHO: Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek
WHEN: Thursday 12 March 2026, 9pm
WHERE: Utzon Room, Sydney Opera House
TICKETS: $69.90 + booking fee // sydneyoperahouse.com // +61 2 9250 7777
Insiders pre-sale: 9am AEDT, Tuesday 4 November
What’s On pre-sale: 9am AEDT Wednesday 5 November
General Public on sale: 9am AEDT, Friday 7 November
