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History

March 2021

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. 

April 2021

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. 

May 2021

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.” 

Cricket wife

December 2021

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.” 

On this day

1999

The Boys perform in Houston. Their renditions this evening of ‘Always on My Mind’ and ‘Being Boring’ later appear on the ‘You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk’ single.

2000

They travel to Cuba on holiday with friends.

2003

BBC Radio 2 airs the first half of an interview/popumentary, Pet Shop Boys, Really.

2007

Resuming their brief series of ‘Fundamental tour addendum’ concerts in Spain, Chris and Neil travel by train from Barcelona to Valencia, where they perform this evening at the Greenspace Festival.

2016

An hour-long show that the Boys have produced and pre-recorded for Berlin-based Radio Eins—part of a series entitled Freundliche Übernahme (‘Friendly Takeover’)—is broadcast this evening. It consists of music chosen, sequenced, and introduced by Neil and Chris. Meanwhile, they bring their Super Tour tonight to Portland, Oregon.

2019

The ‘Dreamland’ single, previously released in streaming and digital formats, is released in physical formats today.