We are pleased to announce that Pet Shop Boys will be headlining the Afisha Picnic Festival 2012 in Moscow, Russia, on July 21st. This will be the full Pandemonium tour production for (probably) the last time as a new Pet Shop Boys tour is planned for early next year with a completely new production.
From the Afisha press release:
“Pet Shop Boys, the British electronic duo and one of the most successful and influential pop band of the last three decades, will be the headliner of Afisha Picnic Festival 2012. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe will be the closing act of festival’s Main Stage and their performance will surely become the culmination of this year’s Afisha Picnic and one of the greatest events in the festival’s history.
“The Afisha Picnic is a one-day outdoor festival held in Moscow, Russia every summer. It takes place on the territory of Kolomenskoye, a former royal estate, now a state-owned historical, architectural and nature reserve museum. Over the last 8 years it has gradually become the main musical and cultural event of the summer in Moscow. This year’s line-up will include Franz Ferdinand, Mika, The Drums and Little Boots, Aquarium, F* Buttons — and the headlining set of Pet Shop Boys will certainly make this year’s Afisha Picnic the best and the biggest event of Russian festival summer of 2012
“It can be said that Pet Shop Boys have a special relationship with Russia — or at least Russia have a special relationship with Pet Shop Boys. Their single “Go West” became one of the musical symbols of Perestroika — and of course many Russians had seen the video for “Go West” as a visual metaphor of what was happening to the country at the moment. Not so long ago Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe composed and performed the music for the seminal Soviet film “Battleship Potemkin”. Every Pet Shop Boys’ show in Russia is always a much anticipated event.”
Afisha Picnic Festival 2012
The first preview of the Jonathan Harvey/Pet Shop Boys musical, “Closer to Heaven” was performed on this day in 2001 at the Arts Theatre in London, with the official press night following on May 31st. The original cast album was released several months later and is still available on streaming services.
Neil and Chris had originally started writing the musical together with Jonathan Harvey in 1996. “We wanted to write something that wasn’t Les Mis or Rent,” says Chris. “A play about contemporary life with contemporary music that was not long and boring.”
Since its first run of shows in 2001, “Closer to Heaven” has returned to London theatre stages several times, most recently at the Turbine Theatre in 2024. It also premiered in Brisbane, Australia in 2005, in Brighton, UK in 2009 and in Dallas, USA in 2010. And one of its main characters, Billie Trix, returned in 2019 with her own one-woman show, “Musik”, also written by Jonathan Harvey with some new Tennant/Lowe songs.
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