On August 19th, Neil and Chris meet by chance in an electronics shop on the Kings Road. Realizing they have a common interest in dance music, they begin to write together. Initially they call themselves West End; later they come up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who work in a pet shop in Ealing. “We thought it sounded like an English rap group”.
The Pet Shop Boys perform the first of two consecutive nights’ concerts in Osaka, Japan.
The Release Tour comes to Athens, Greece.
The Boys bring their Pandemonium Tour to London’s O2 Arena—a sold-out performance. After the concert, they host a small party for family and friends, including a number of celebrities. Neil is especially pleased to find that his eight-year-old nephew enjoyed the show.
The second of two PSB/Take That shows in Dublin.
The British Film Institute in London screens the classic silent film Battleship Potemkin, accompanied by the recorded Tennant-Lowe score from 2004—the first public screening of the film with their score in a cinematic venue. Neil puts in an appearance to provide a brief introduction.
Neil attends David Byrne’s performance this evening at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, which afterward he describes enthusiastically on the PSB website as ‘exhilarating and beautifully staged.’
Currently in France, the Pet Shop Boys perform an essentially unpublicized ‘private’ concert at the 2019 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Meanwhile, today’s issue of The Times Literary Supplement offers a glowing review of Neil’s recent book One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem.
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Frankfurt, Germany.
They bring their Dreamworld Tour show to Dublin, Ireland.
They headline this evening at the Kalorama Festival in Lisbon, Portugal.