On April 22, the Pet Shop Boys musical Closer to Heaven is performed in London for the first time in fourteen years, in a sold-out month-long run at The Union Theatre. (It will return for a further five weeks beginning on October 21.). For this revival, at the Pet Shop Boys’ request, the musical’s original final number, “Positive role model”, is replaced by “Vocal”.
On August 15, the final date of the much-extended Electric tour – which began in March, 2013 – takes place at the Flow Festival in Helsinki. The tour has visited over forty countries.
On December 2, the Pet Shop Boys appear at MAMA – the Mnet Asian Music Awards – in Hong Kong. They are given the Worldwide Inspiration award and play a lengthy live medley, joined for their final two songs, “What have I done to deserve this?” and “Vocal”, by the K‑Pop artist f(x). At the organisers’ request, they wear the Electric tour straw jackets for, possibly, the final time.
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Granada, Spain.
They work in their London studio on ‘For Every Moment’—a song that would remain unreleased for nearly 15 years.
Neil is interviewed in the third part of BBC4’s Pop Britannia, a documentary concerning the struggle between art and commerce in British popular music.
The Boys announce via Twitter that they have now finished mixing and mastering the music for their ballet The Most Incredible Thing in preparation for CD release in March.
They work on the song ‘Invisible.’
Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders notes on her Facebook page that she’s in the studio recording with Neil, dropping a broad hint that it has something to do with her recent song ‘Let’s Get Lost.’ But it’s not clear at the time precisely what the outcome will be. (It ultimately proves to be a remake, released as a single, in which she duets with Neil.)