One of Pulp’s lucky readers won our competition to take themselves and a mate down to London for this year’s birthday JD Set. Here’s what he had to say!

I was lucky enough to attend the 2009 Birthday JD Set, in East London’s Village Underground, and to experience some pretty amazing music while sipping on some delicious Jack Daniel’s cocktails!

The setting was about as perfect as you could get outside of Lynchburg, Tennessee. The Village Underground, ostensibly a large, empty warehouse off a side street in bohemian East London, had been transformed into a homage to Mr Jack, with the familiar branding all over the place, and huge photos of previous years’ JD Birthday Set performances. Glancing around at the portraits of the likes of Guy Garvey, The Flaming Lips and Patti Smith, it would be easy to feel as though you’ve missed out on classic performances. However, the line-up prepared for this special night was pretty remarkable, in keeping with past events; an indie who’s-who, and an NME fan’s wet dream.

Before things kicked off – and worthy of mention – we headed off to trade in our complimentary drinks tokens (plectrum-shaped, natch). Unfortunately, and as is usually the way with free booze, everybody else in the room had the same idea and we were in for a bit of a crush and a wait. Any negative thoughts were soon washed away when we tried some of the Jack Daniel’s cocktails on offer. I had initially just planned to enjoy the requisite Jack and coke, but to do so in this building on this night would’ve been sacrilegious. On offer were cocktails such as the splendid Moore County Mule (Jack, ginger beer, Cointeau, sugar syrup, ginger cordial, apple juice and a wedge of lime), which provided the kick its name suggested. Another, the simple Lynchburg Lemonade (Jack, Cointreau, lemonade) was a touch more refreshing but no less inebriating.

While the queues for the bar were kind of ridiculous, praise must be given to the efficient, friendly bar staff who had to spend the evening churning out the delicious refreshments. Every drink we had was prepared very well given the cramped and rushed conditions, and service was with a smile, even when payment, let alone tips, were far from punters’ minds. It seems funny to spend half a gig review waxing on about the drinks on offer – but when it’s Mr Jack’s birthday and the cocktails are flowing, who am I to skimp on the details?

Suitably refreshed (or just glad to be out of the scrum for the bar), our attention turned to the stage, where various members of the New Silver Cornet Band – of whom more later – were taking their positions. First up on the night’s bill was Jon McClure or, as he is known to his congregation, the Reverend (of And The Makers fame). Not being too familiar with his material, and aware of his swaggering ego, I was pleased that the opening track was a hearty rendition of Always On My Mind. This got proceedings off to a nice start, before playing a few ‘Makers tracks, getting the eager crowds’ heads nodding. A slight damp squib followed with the introduction of one time Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, coming on to play Pretty Vacant with McClure on vox. A good performance no doubt, but it felt slightly forced and definitely wasn’t as exciting as it could’ve been on paper.

Thankfully McClure’s set didn’t drag on too long, and was shortly followed by the appearance of Brett Anderson looking sharp and dapper. As a pubescent fan of Britpop stars Suede, the sight of frontman Anderson was admittedly quite exciting and his performance did a lot to lend some gravitas to the evening. After the indie swagger of Jon McClure, Anderson’s angelic vocals and calm, ethereal stage presence was very refreshing. Not knowing much of Anderson’s solo work, it was a joy to hear the likes of Trash, a Britpop classic, and a song which had lain dormant in my head for years and has now burst forth once more.

After five songs or so, Anderson was also finished and retreated before the emergence of Carl Barat, of The Libertines and latterly of Dirty Pretty Things. Dressed smartly and looking distinctly like the lovechild of Bryan Ferry and Oscar Wilde (now there’s a thought…), Barat had clearly been enjoying the fruits of Mr Jack’s labour as much as the audience had. This led to a few hiccups (not literally, fortunately), and the prolonged use of lyrics sheets for his set. To be fair to Barat, he was covering other people’s songs for half the short set, and he was clearly in his element when playing Libertines classics What Katie Did and The Good Old Days. Whilst I’ve never been all that bothered about them, I would still call myself a Libs fan and, having never had the opportunity to see them, seeing Barat that night was a nice box ticked for me.

As was the way of the evening, Barat’s set was over almost as soon as it had begun, and the end of the night was upon us. The final act saw McClure, Anderson and Barat uniting on stage to a hypnotic beat which slowly morphed into The Velvet Underground’s chilling Venus In Furs. Each taking turns on vocals, and Anderson beating a tambourine with gusto, the set was drawn to a fitting end. Three fine musicians had graced the stage and provided an evening’s entertainment to a merry crowd.

But that’s not the whole story. Supporting these figureheads the whole evening was the subdued and modest presence of The New Silver Cornet Band, so-called in reference to Jack Daniel’s own Silver Cornet Band from late 19th century Tennessee. Themselves a tad silvered – most notably Billy Block, sat proudly behind the drums – the band were all a good deal older than the night’s stars. And yet they played on for two hours as backing to each singer, even playing on in-between the sets, with the help of Rosie Vanier and the Silver Strings of Elena Agriros and Rosie and Edie Langley.

The New Silver Cornet Band is, in reality, various musicians drawn together for this JD Birthday event, with such merit as having played with the likes of Bob Dylan, Elvis and The Rolling Stones. And the initial performance of Always On My Mind was made all the more sweet by virtue of the fact that the band consists of Wayne Carson – the very man who originally wrote the song!

So, with a handful of Britain’s foremost indie Gods, a scattering of girls on vocals and strings, and a band with such musical history and heritage as to blow the rest of the room out of the water, this year’s Jack Daniel’s Birthday Set was something to behold. The entire night was never really more than the sum of its parts, but when the parts are of such a standard, who can complain?

Washing down great music with delicious whiskey-based drinks in the company of friends? That’s gotta be what Jack Daniel had in mind. So a very happy birthday from Pulp, Mr Jack.

Words and photographs by Paul Tucker