Watch Pulp cover ABBA’s “The Day Before You Came” with the BBC Concert Orchestra

Pulp have always had a little ABBA in them — songs like “I Spy” and “Acrylic Afternoons” are indebted to the sweep, pulse and melancholy of the Swedish pop sensations’ most nuanced creations. So it’s less a surprise that they’ve now covered ABBA but it’s taken them this long.

So it came to be that Jarvis Cocker and the rest of Pulp joined the BBC Concert Orchestra at the Beeb’s famed Maida Vale studios on Monday morning for a string-and-flute-filled rendition of ABBA’s 1982 single “The Day Before You Came.” It was part of BBC 2’s Piano Room Series that also included performances of Pulp songs “Something’s Changed” from Different Class and “Hymn of the North” from last year’s fantastic comeback album, More. You can watch them play all three songs below.

While at Maida Vale, Jarvis went to visit the studio where Pulp recorded their very first John Peel session way back in 1981 (when he was just 18). Check out photos from Jarvis’ Instagram of that below.

Pulp have tour dates in Australia in late winter, and European festival dates this summer. Check out their tour schedule below.

PULP – 2026 Tour Dates
21 February – Auckland, Spark Arena
24 February – Brisbane, Riverstage
27 February – Adelaide, Adelaide Festival
3 March – Melbourne, Sidney Myer Music Bowl
6 March – Sydney, Sydney Opera House Forecourt
7 March – Sydney, Sydney Opera House Forecourt
2 July – Beauregard Festival France
4 July – Les Eurockéennes France
11 July – Mad Cool Festival Madrid
28 August – Wythenshawe Park, Manchester UK