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History

March 2011

On March 14 a double-CD of the music from the ballet The Most Incredible Thing is released under the name Tennant/Lowe. It contains the full performance score of the ballet with orchestrations by Sven Helbig.

2011 March

On March 17 the ballet The Most Incredible Thing has its first public performance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Its genesis can be traced back to a week in where, by chance, two initially unrelated events took place. Ivan Putrov, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet whom the Pet Shop Boys had got to know through Sam Taylor-Wood, called Neil to ask whether they would write a piece for him to dance to. Two days later, before Neil had even had a chance to ask Chris, Chris called to say that he’d just read a story in a new translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales that he thought would make a great ballet: “The Most Incredible Thing”. This eventually led to the Sadler’s Wells production, choreographed by Javier de Frutos and starring Ivan Putrov, Clemmie Sveaas and Aaron Sillis. All ten performances sell out.

May 2011

On May 27 the Pet Shop Boys appear at the Sunderland Stadium of Light, joining Take That at their invitation as “special guests” on their first reunion concerts as a five-piece on what will be the biggest British tour ever – 29 British stadium shows – followed by a short European leg. “45 minutes of intensity,” says Chris.

December 2011

On December 31 the Pet Shop Boys appear at a New Year’s Eve concert on an island in Sydney Harbour.

On this day

1990

Chris and Neil rehearse in Manchester for their upcoming shows in Los Angeles with Electronic.

1992

They begin a week of filling in for Simon Bates on his Radio 1 show.

2002

They meet Miyuki Motegi (who had already recorded and released their song ‘All or Nothing’) at the Fuji Rock Festival.

2005

Neil and Chris work in the studio on ‘Minimal’ and ‘The Sodom and Gomorrah Show.’

2007

The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk, U.K.

2011

Today they’re in Munich. Working in Chris’s hotel room, they make changes to the chorus of the song ‘Listening.’ Chris also composes a track that will much later serve as the basis for ‘The Pop Kids.’

2017

They appear in concert this evening in Rättvik, Sweden.

2018

The third date of the Boys’ four-night stand at the Royal Opera House in London.

2022

On a bit of a break following the conclusion of the 2022 leg of the Boys’ Dreamworld Tour, Neil attends a performance this evening by Martha Wainwright and her band at Cadogan Hall in the Chelsea district of London.