Skip to navigation Skip to content

History

1970 — 1971

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”.

On this day

1972

Along with several friends, a young Neil Tennant attends a David Bowie concert at Newcastle City Hall. After the show he and his chums hang around backstage, where Neil gets David’s autograph on a promo poster.

1991

The Boys perform the second of three consecutive nights’ shows in Birmingham, U.K., filmed for the Performance concert video.

2002

They perform in Houston, Texas.

2003

The Boys’ remix of Yoko Ono’s ‘Walking on Thin Ice’ is released in the U.K.

2007

They perform at the Skive Beach Party in Denmark.

2015

The Blackpool Gazette, Chris’s hometown newspaper, reports that Chris has donated a keyboard to the Blackpool Music Academy in support of the paper’s ‘Give Us a Tune’ charity drive for music education. Chris tells the Gazette, ‘I’m happy to help a little with this worthwhile project. Very best wishes for the rest of the campaign.’

2016

This evening ‘An Evening with Pet Shop Boys’ is broadcast on BBC Radio 2, hosted by Jo Whiley. She chats with Neil and Chris, who also select some of the music played on air.

2018

The Boys work in the studio on a song titled ‘He’s Not Coming Home.’

2022

They perform at the Heartland Festival held at Egeskov Castle in Kværndrup, Denmark.