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”.
Chris and Neil begin work on ‘Up Against It.’
They perform at Wolverhampton, U.K.
Following a two-week break from performing, the Boys resume their summer concert schedule at Villa Arconati in Milan—their first Italian show in five years. Among the concert-goers is the Romanian opera star Angela Gheorghiu, who had sung at La Scala the night before.
A PSB interview with Dermot O’Leary runs this afternoon on BBC Radio 2. And this evening the Boys perform at the Dour Festival in Belgium.
With Robbie Williams recovered from his recent bout of food poisoning, Take That and PSB perform this evening in Amsterdam.
The Electric Tour comes to Pori, Finland.
Six years to the day since their previous appearance in Amsterdam, the Pet Shop Boys perform tonight in that city’s Koninklijk Theater Carré.
They appear in concert at the Starlite Festival in Marbella, Spain.
They perform at the Pori Jazz Festival in Finland. (There’s obviously more than just jazz at the Pori Jazz Festival.)