Jarvis Cocker plays birthday tribute for Dire Straits frontman

Pulp played a birthday tribute to Dire Straits frontman Mark Knopfler during a festival appearance in Norway last night.

The band kicked off their set at Oslo's Oya Festival with 1994 hit 'Do You Remember The First Time?', before continuing to play a collection of hits from their back catalogue.

Following performances of 'Razzmatazz' and 'Disco 2000', frontman Jarvis Cocker told the audience: "Mark Knopfler was born today. Y'know, Dire Straits?"

Cocker then sang some lines from Dire Straits' 1978 classic 'Sultans of Swing', before commenting: "C'mon Mark, put your headband on.

"I thought, as a tribute, we'll do our own version of that song. Yeah, it's an exclusive! We are the Sultans."

Pulp then performed their own track 'Babies', with Cocker concluding: "Yeah, Sultans are sweet."

The band then paid tribute to British poet William Blake by playing their track 'Party Hard', which they confessed to hardly ever performing live.

Ahead of the performance, Cocker quoted Blake, stating: "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. That's what they say, but usually the road of excess leads to the hospital, I find. Or at least to a chemist!"

Pulp concluded the set with their famous single 'Common People' and were joined on stage by Noah and The Whale keys and fiddle player Tom Hobden.

Oya Festival is currently taking place in Oslo, Norway until August 14. The four-day music event has played host to a headline set from Kanye West and an energetic performance from Janelle Monae.

Pulp recently announced plans to play a one-off London show at Brixton Academy on August 31.

Watch Pulp's video for 'Common People' below: