Rough Trade Celebrates 50 With Pulp, Scritti Politti

Half a century in, Rough Trade Records is throwing itself a properly curated birthday bash by taking over London’s Southbank Centre for a three-day, all-eras flex on July 17-19. At the top of the bill is Pulp, which will perform its latest album, More, from front-to-back on July 18.

That same day, Scritti Politti clocks in for matinee and evening shows at Queen Elizabeth Hall, reconnecting with the label that helped define its early-’80s arc. The group has not played live September 2022.

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On the final night, newer Rough Trade signee caroline will perform with My New Band Believe, which is led by ex-black midi member Cameron Picton, while Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker will introduce a screening of Kes featuring a live orchestral soundtrack. Rough Trade Books will also host a Friday night salon of readings and one-offs, followed by a staging of Hannah Patterson’s debut novel, Ungone, the next night.

“This year means it’s 50 years since the day the first shop opened its doors on Kensington Park Road,” says Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis. “The Rough Trade shop, which became a distributor and then a record label, has helped to bring into the world some of the very best music. Someone said we should celebrate! So here we are with a weekend takeover of the Southbank Centre. Come and celebrate with us.”

Southbank boss Mark Ball calls Rough Trade “a true icon of British culture,” noting the venue’s own 75th year and a shared mission to spotlight both legacy and the next wave. From that first 1977 release by Métal Urbain to a catalog that’s housed everyone from the Smiths to the Strokes (and back around again to Pulp), Rough Trade’s through-line has been taste, timing and a little “benign dictatorship,” per Travis — tempered since 1988 by co-pilot Jeannette Lee.

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