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History

March 2011

On March 14 a double-CD of the music from the ballet The Most Incredible Thing is released under the name Tennant/Lowe. It contains the full performance score of the ballet with orchestrations by Sven Helbig.

2011 March

On March 17 the ballet The Most Incredible Thing has its first public performance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Its genesis can be traced back to a week in where, by chance, two initially unrelated events took place. Ivan Putrov, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet whom the Pet Shop Boys had got to know through Sam Taylor-Wood, called Neil to ask whether they would write a piece for him to dance to. Two days later, before Neil had even had a chance to ask Chris, Chris called to say that he’d just read a story in a new translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales that he thought would make a great ballet: “The Most Incredible Thing”. This eventually led to the Sadler’s Wells production, choreographed by Javier de Frutos and starring Ivan Putrov, Clemmie Sveaas and Aaron Sillis. All ten performances sell out.

May 2011

On May 27 the Pet Shop Boys appear at the Sunderland Stadium of Light, joining Take That at their invitation as “special guests” on their first reunion concerts as a five-piece on what will be the biggest British tour ever – 29 British stadium shows – followed by a short European leg. “45 minutes of intensity,” says Chris.

December 2011

On December 31 the Pet Shop Boys appear at a New Year’s Eve concert on an island in Sydney Harbour.

On this day

2001

The PSB organization puts out a press notice announcing the upcoming release of the Closer to Heaven original cast album the following October.

2012

The Boys perform for the second day in a row at a festival in Norway—this time at the Rått og Råde Festival in Stavanger.

2014

The Pet Shop Boys appear as guests on this evening’s episode of the long-running BBC Radio drama The Archers. Their storyline concerns their performance at the show’s fictional Loxfest music festival. (The recording session for their appearance had taken place several weeks beforehand.)

2023

Neil presents his favorite songs by The Killers on ‘The Electronic Killers,’ an edition of the BBC website’s Artist Icons Collection. Among others, he plays tracks with distinct PSB connections, including the Brandon Flowers solo song ‘I Can Change’ (which features a sample of Neil’s voice) and one of the Boys’ remixes of ‘Read My Mind.’