Skip to navigation Skip to content

History

February 2010

On February 15 Pandemonium, a DVD and CD of the Pandemonium tour, is released. It was filmed and recorded at the O2 Arena in London on December 21, 2009. The film is directed by David Barnard. The CD version, which includes fewer songs, has been specially mixed for this release by Stuart Price.

2010 February

April 2010

On April 17, as part of the annual music business event known as Record Store Day, the Pet Shop Boys release a seven-inch single in an edition of 1000 copies. On one side is the demo of a song they gave to Alcazar, “Love life”, and on other is the 2003 recording, “A powerful friend”.

June 2010

On June 26 the Pet Shop Boys appeared at the Glastonbury festival to great acclaim. “It was one of those people-as-far-back-as-you-can-see audiences,” says Neil.

October 2010

On October 24 a new Pet Shop Boys single, the rousing dance anthem “Together”, is released, produced and written with Tim Powell who was previously part of the team at Xenomania. “I was imagining, really, that there are two people about to have sex for the first time,” says Neil. “But it’s very revolutionary: ‘together I’ll cry with you, together I’ll die with you, together we’ll go all the way…’” It could be anything about two people. It could be Chris and I at the beginning of our writing career together, thinking we could go all the way with this. It wasn’t written as that, but it definitely could be that as well.” Its video, a drama with an Eastern European dance-off between classical and modern dance styles at its centre, is shot in Estonia. Amongst the extra tracks on the single is a cover of the Dave Clark Five’s “Glad all over”, a traditional song of celebration at Chris’s hometown football team, Blackpool.

2010 October

November 2010

On November 1 a new Pet Shop Boys hits compilation, Ultimate, is released. Intended as a straightforward mass market single CD collection of their most popular songs, it is also released in a version with a bonus DVD including 27 Pet Shop Boys performances at the BBC from the past 25 years, most of them filmed for Top Of The Pops, as well as their triumphant performance in the summer of 2010 at Glastonbury festival.

2010 November

On November 25 a children’s play based on a book by the author David Almond, My Dad’s A Birdman, opened at the Young Vic theatre in London. It includes three songs written by Neil and Chris (two incorporating lyrics from the script) and some other instrumental music. “I loved it,” says Chris. “The place was full of children all chatting away. There’s a great bit where one of the cast goes, ‘Do you think he’ll fly?’ and all the children go, ‘No.’ It was really funny.”

On this day

1994

Neil and Chris work on a new song, ‘Yes in a No Kind of Way,’ but never get around to finishing it.

1995

The Boys perform ‘Paninaro ‘95’ on Top of the Pops. Meanwhile, BBC 1 radio host Kevin Greening breaks the First Commandment (not for the first time) by declaring Neil Tennant ‘God of the Week.’

2001

They’re busy working on ‘Home and Dry.’

2007

Neil and Chris enjoy (as the latter writes on their official website) ‘a night off in Brussels.’

2012

The CD and ‘digital EP’ of the PSB single ‘Winner,’ featuring three previously unreleased bonus songs, is released today in Germany and several other nations on iTunes, Amazon, and other online outlets. It will similarly be released (digitally) in various other nations over the next few days.

2013

The Pet Shop Boys perform this evening in Singapore.

2014

The Electric Tour comes to Girona, Spain.

2019

Neil and Chris, along with Frances Barber, take a train to Edinburgh, where Musik will soon have its premiere.