Last night’s concert with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra was a wonderful experience for us. The orchestra played with such luxurious power and conviction, conducted by Dominic Wheeler, and the Manchester Chamber Choir brought ethereal beauty to, for instance, “Miracles” and “He dreamed of machines” (from our new piece about Alan Turing). To hear Johnny Marr playing the guitar riff from “This must be the place I waited years to leave” was a real thrill so many years after he played on the original record; his acoustic guitar playing on “Breathing space” was gorgeous. Other highlights for me were performing live for the first time “It couldn’t happen here”, “The survivors” and “For all of us”. Sven Helbig’s orchestral arrangements were both magnificent and subtle: “New York City boy” was returned to Broadway; “He dreamed of machines” had a pale beauty. Many thanks to everyone at the BBC, Parlophone and our management and tour personnel for making it happen, to Pete Gleadall for programming and to Jo Whiley for introducing it. The concert can be heard on BBC Radio 2 tonight at 8 pm. I hope you enjoy it. Neil x (Photograph by Kate Southall/BBC.)
Pet Shop Boys’ brand-new album “Nonetheless” is out now on Parlophone Records.
Recent Pet Texts
The cast of the new London production of “Closer to Heaven” has just been announced. Full details and ticket information at the link below.
Very happy to read the first “Nonetheless” album reviews and all your kind messages about our new album this week. x
Pet Shop Boys’ “Dancing star” is this week’s Track of the Week on Absolute Radio. You can hear it playing on the “Evening Show” all week long from 7pm BST today.
Thanks to everyone at the John Rylands Library, Manchester, for hosting our “Nonetheless” launch event in their spectacular building and to Jon Savage for interviewing us. And of course to everyone who attended the event!
(Photo: Jon Savage)
The Amazon UK “CDs and Vinyl” chart this morning, the day after the release of “Nonetheless” Thanks to everyone who has bought the new album!
This Sunday, 28th April at 4pm BST, Greatest Hits Radio will air “When Jackie Brambles met Pet Shop Boys”, a one-hour special featuring PSB music and an interview with Neil and Chris. Further details at the link below.
A new “Lunch with Pet Shop Boys” feature, including an interview with Neil and Chris, is now available to online subscribers of the Financial Times. Link to read below. The article will also be published in Saturday’s print edition.
Thanks to BBC Radio 2 for choosing “Nonetheless” as their new Album of the Week. x