On March 19 two books by Chris Heath – Literally from 1990, and Pet Shop Boys versus America from 1993 – were reissued by the Penguin imprint Cornerstone, completely redesigned by Farrow design, and new introductions and afterwords written by the Pet Shop Boys and Chris Heath.
On April 21, Discovery, the film of the Pet Shop Boys 1994 South American tour – “the tour I enjoyed the most,” Chris notes – is released on DVD, accompanied by the release for the first time of a CD of their performance.
On May 7, a new Pet Shop Boys song, the ten-minute “Cricket wife”, is released on CD (accompanied by “West End girls (New lockdown version)”) with the periodical Annually 2021. “Cricket wife”, written during lockdown, began as an extended piece of music created by Chris. “My mum asked me if I would write a piece of classical music for her,” he explains. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing else better to do.’ ‘Classical’ in inverted commas, obviously – I’m no classical composer. In the style of classical music.” When Neil received it, it struck him that it might fit a poem he had written some years before. “It’s really about my parents,” he says. “My father played cricket for many years.”
On December 26, the Pet Shop Boys host a three-hour radio show, Pet Shop Boys, Takeover, on BBC Radio 2 between 9pm and midnight, playing a selection of favourite songs; a broadcast also billed by Radio 2 as “Neil and Chris’s Unpredictable Party Playlist”. (The show has been pre-recorded on the afternoon of December 13.) The Pet Shop Boys have recorded five new jingles for the show, titled “Takeover”, “Strings”, “Beautiful”, “Boxing Day” and “Electric”, and introduce a joyously eclectic selection of music, including records by Matt Monro, Alcazar, Paul Weller (their recent remix of his song “Cosmic Fringes”), Gloria Ann Taylor, Eric Prydz, Françoise Hardy and The 1975. “We’ve only ever done radio when we can play records that we want,” says Chris. “I love doing radio. There’s something very satisfying about broadcasting to the nation.”
The Pet Shop Boys perform ‘West End Girls’ on Top of the Pops—their first of more than 50 appearances on the show.
Neil and Chris make their second appearance on the German TV program Peter’s Pop Show, this time performing ‘It’s a Sin’ and ‘Rent.’
The Boys perform in concert in São Paolo, Brazil.
Chris and Neil supervise the recording of orchestral and choral backing tracks for various Nightlife songs. They also work on demos for their upcoming musical.
They perform at the O2 World arena in Berlin. Bernard Sumner’s new band, Bad Lieutenant, opens for them.
Neil and Chris are spotted in attendance at this evening’s performance of A John Waters Christmas at London’s Royal Festival Hall.
A very big, busy day for the Boys. They’re interviewed on several different BBC Radio stations (2, 5, and 6), talking about, among other things, their concert that evening with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and their new musical piece about Alan Turing (‘He Dreamed of Machines’). Then later, of course, there’s the orchestral concert itself, with guest guitarist Johnny Marr. (It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 the following evening.) Meanwhile, their official website posts news about the first U.K. dates (in June 2013) on their next concert tour.
They appear in their second of two nights’ shows at the Copenhagen Opera House.
A brand new ‘official’ lyric video of the PSB holiday song ‘It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas’ debuts today on YouTube.