On April 22, the Pet Shop Boys musical Closer to Heaven is performed in London for the first time in fourteen years, in a sold-out month-long run at The Union Theatre. (It will return for a further five weeks beginning on October 21.). For this revival, at the Pet Shop Boys’ request, the musical’s original final number, “Positive role model”, is replaced by “Vocal”.
On August 15, the final date of the much-extended Electric tour – which began in March, 2013 – takes place at the Flow Festival in Helsinki. The tour has visited over forty countries.
On December 2, the Pet Shop Boys appear at MAMA – the Mnet Asian Music Awards – in Hong Kong. They are given the Worldwide Inspiration award and play a lengthy live medley, joined for their final two songs, “What have I done to deserve this?” and “Vocal”, by the K‑Pop artist f(x). At the organisers’ request, they wear the Electric tour straw jackets for, possibly, the final time.
Chris and Neil rehearse in Manchester for their upcoming shows in Los Angeles with Electronic.
They begin a week of filling in for Simon Bates on his Radio 1 show.
They meet Miyuki Motegi (who had already recorded and released their song ‘All or Nothing’) at the Fuji Rock Festival.
Neil and Chris work in the studio on ‘Minimal’ and ‘The Sodom and Gomorrah Show.’
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Newmarket Racecourse in Suffolk, U.K.
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.’
They appear in concert this evening in Rättvik, Sweden.
The third date of the Boys’ four-night stand at the Royal Opera House in London.
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.