For their Fan Club, the Pet Shop Boys record a Christmas song, “It doesn’t often snow at Christmas” and send it in silver bubble-wrap casing as their Christmas card. “Originally I was trying to do this pretentious Christmas‑y music thing,” Neil says, “but then I said, ‘maybe we should do something really corny…” Though not released commercially it is played several times on Radio One before Christmas.
On November 24 a longform video, Somewhere: Pet Shop Boys in Concert, is released. Directed by Annie Griffin, it comprises of a half-hour documentary about the staging of the Somewhere show followed by a film of most of the show itself.
On October 26 the Pet Shop Boys headline Stonewall’s Equality Show at London’s Royal Albert Hall, having agreed to do so at the last minute. Before finishing with a hastily arranged version of Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual”, they played a medley which included “Sixteen Going On Seventeen” (from The Sound Of Music), “Being boring”, “Climb Every Mountain” (also from The Sound Of Music) and “Go West”, “It was our greatest moment,” Chris declares. “Our finest hour.”
On September 14 the Pet Shop Boys appear on the TV programme ‘An Audience With Elton John’ performing with Elton John an arrangement of theirs which melds together two of his songs, “Believe” and “Song For Guy”.
On August 16 the Pet Shop Boys headline the final night of the Stockholm Water Festival in Sweden. The stage is on a man-made island floating on water, which sways noticeable as they perform.
A new version of ‘Bilingual’ is released on July 7th titled ‘Bilingual Special Edition’. It features a bonus CD containing 7 remixed tracks, including the extended version of ‘Somewhere’ and a previously unavailable mix of ‘The boy who couldn’t keep his clothes on’.
The Pet Shop Boys agree to headline Gay Pride, an all-day celebration on Clapham Common in London on July 5th. They perform ‘Somewhere’, ‘It’s a sin’, and ‘Go West’ to a sea of people, as far as you can see, their arms in the air.
On June 4th, the Pet Shop Boys begin a residency, ‘Somewhere’, at London’s Savoy Theatre, staged in collaboration with the artist Sam Taylor-Wood.
On June 23 the Pet Shop Boys release a new single, a version of “Somewhere” from West Side Story. “Because we like it,” Neil explains.
On June 27 the Pet Shop Boys play their first ever festival show, headlining the Roskilde festival in Denmark. “We’re playing fifteen hit singles and one obscure song.” Neil tells the press beforehand. “We’re not taking any chances,” Chris explains. After a fairly triumphant reception, Chris says, “We didn’t look too keen, did we? It’s easy to get carried away at moments like that and do things you regret later.” Two days later they play at another festival in Turku, Finland. During “Go West” a preposterously large ship comes up the river, alongside the stage, as though choreographed.
The Closer to Heaven four-track promo disc is released.
The Sunday Times of London reports that PSB will plant 70 trees in Scotland to counter the effects of their latest CD on the environment.
In London, Neil and Chris attend the final show of Kylie Minogue’s ‘Showgirl’ tour (during which she has been performing ‘In Denial’ accompanied by Neil’s recorded vocals). They meet with her after the show.
At the Classical BRITS Awards show this evening at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Neil presents the ‘Composer of the Year’ award to Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.
The second concert of the Boys’ Dreamworld Tour takes place in Vienna.