Neil plays in a group in Newcastle called Dust: Their most popular song is a preposterous affair he has written called “Can you hear the dawn break?”. They are heavily influenced by The Incredible String Band. “We were convinced we would become terribly famous. It was a very kind of stoned seventies but we used to think it was absolutely brilliant at the time”.
Neil and Chris happen upon George Michael at the Rio de Janeiro airport. Afterward they have, in Neil’s own words, ‘a riotous time on the plane.’
The first of two whole days back-to-back they spend working on ‘Hold On.’ Meanwhile, an exhibition opens at the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, London, for which various celebrities have contributed items that represent to them personal happiness. Neil has contributed a poster he got at a 1972 ‘Ziggy-era’ David Bowie concert, which was subsequently autographed at the stage door by both Bowie and his guitarist Mick Ronson. As Neil says, it made him ‘very happy.’
This evening singer Tracey Thorn, formerly of Everything But the Girl, posts on Twitter than she has ‘Just had dinner with the Pet Shop Boys and in case you’re wondering, they’re lovely.’