Eden project is setting for Pulp concert

Pop band Pulp are to play the first in a series of live outdoor concerts at Cornwall’s Eden Project tonight.

Lead singer Jarvis Cocker will launch the first ‘‘Eden Session’’ at the former clay pit near St Austell.

The 3,000-strong audience are offered free entry to the attraction’s plant-filled greenhouses or biomes with their concert tickets.

Eden’s creative director Peter Hampel said the venue was a natural arena for live music.

‘‘Obviously this is a very magical setting to experience music and all the artists that we selected have a very strong sympathy with what the project is trying to achieve,’’ he said.

The Eden Project’s biomes cover 34 acres of the 200ft deep former clay pit. They will serve as a backdrop to tonight’s open-air event.

The attraction opened to the public in March 2001. It drew almost two million visitors in its first year - more than double the predicted figure.

Pulp’s appearance will be followed by a live concert from Spirtualized, Six by Seven and Beth Orton tomorrow. A series of rock, pop, classical and folk concerts will be held at the tourist attraction over the summer.