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History

January 2000

On January 4 the Pet Shop Boys release a new single, “You only tell me you love me when you’re drunk”. “I think it’s a sentiment a lot of people can relate to,” says Neil. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing. I think sometimes it only occurs to some people to say that when their guard is down, when they’re drunk. It was inspired by something in my life years ago. Parts of my brain are normally looking for song ideas at any given time and will pluck things out of an emotional turmoil and sort them away, and this is an example of that. In the song, the person singing is wondering whether the other person is really in love with them. In the song, as in life, the answer is left hanging.” One of the CD bonus tracks, “Lies”, features a rare Chris Lowe vocal.

2000 January

February 2000

On February 12 the Nightlife tour ends in Mannheim, Germany. 

At the request of their Japanese record company, the Pet Shop Boys release Mini Pet Shop Boys, an eight track CD which included “Closer to Heaven”, a remix of “New York City boy” and six songs released elsewhere as bonus tracks on CD singles.

April 2000

On April 29 the Pet Shop Boys appear at an anti-hate crimes benefit concert called Equality Rocks in Washington DC, USA, on a bill including George Michael, Garth Brooks, k d lang, Chaka Khan, Ellen Degeneres and Melissa Etheridge. Melissa Etheridge joined the Pet Shop Boys onstage to sing the Dusty Springfield part in “What have I done to deserve this?” and the Pet Shop Boys also played a cover of an old disco tune by Modern Rocketry called “Homosexuality”.

May 2000

On May 25, at the Ivor Novello awards in London, the Pet Shop Boys receive the award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Elton John presents the award. “Neil and Chris’s songs I think are incredibly underrated,” he says. “The ability to write great personal lyrics with great melodies is a very hard task.”

The Pet Shop Boys’ first musical, Closer to Heaven, a collaboration with playwright Jonathan Harvey, is privately workshopped for three weeks in London. The results are encouraging but over the next few months the musical’s plot and structure is radically reworked; Neil and Chris write a number of new songs.

June 2000

On June 1, in Jerusalem, Israel, the Pet Shop Boys summer tour begins. It will take them through parts of the former Soviet Union (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and the Ukraine), to Japan, and back to Europe where they are due to play at various summer festivals. They have kept some elements from the Nightlife tour, but have a new set more suitable to festival appearances, with a giant screen behind them which shows a mixture of newly-commissioned and old footage. Onstage, Neil dances for the first time. “Though nobody seems to have noticed,” he says. 

On June 24 the Pet Shop Boys perform for the first time at the Glastonbury festival in England. The sun sets while they are onstage, and Catatonia’s Cerys Matthews takes the part of Dusty Springfield in “What have I done to deserve this?”. It is considered one of the festival’s landmark triumphs. 

July 2000

On July 21 the Pet Shop Boys tour finishes at the Dr Music festival near Oviedo in North-West Spain where they follow Beck onstage. Earlier that month they have refused to perform at the Roskilde festival, despite pressure to do so, after nine people in the audience die the night before during Pearl Jam’s set. 

On this day

1991

Derek Jarman records in his diary, ‘Neil Tennant and his friend Jay arrive for tea.’

1995

Chris and Neil take part in shooting the video for ‘Paninaro ’95.’

1997

‘Somewhere’ is released as a single.

2002

The Boys perform in Leipzig, Germany.

2011

They begin work on two brand new songs, ‘Shouting in the Evening’ and ‘Give It a Go.’

2013

Despite an earlier attempt to persuade them to cancel the show in protest of Israel’s policies with regard to Palestinians, the Pet Shop Boys bring their Electric Tour show to Tel Aviv this evening.

2014

They work on a new song titled ‘Will You Love Me?’

2015

They complete work on their wedding-present track, ‘Wedding in Berlin.’

2018

Neil is among an estimated 50,000 people from across the U.K. political spectrum who march in London today to protest ‘Brexit’ – Britain’s pending exit from the European Union. This same evening, Dusty, a new ‘jukebox musical’ based on the life of Dusty Springfield, makes its world debut at Theatre Royal in the city of Bath. Written by Jonathan Harvey (who had previously collaborated with PSB on their own musical Closer to Heaven) and starring Katherine Kingsley, it includes a climactic rendition of ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’

2019

Neil, playwright Jonathan Harvey, and singer-actress Frances Barber tape their appearance as guests on Graham Norton’s BBC Radio 2 show to talk about the Boys’ new cabaret stage show Musik starring Ms. Barber. (It will air the following Saturday.)

2023

Neil visits the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. When evening comes, he and Chris perform their Dreamworld Tour show at that city’s M&S Bank Arena.