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 settle on the final running order of the tracks on Nightlife.
In the wee hours of the morning they appear on Craig Kilborn’s CBS Late Late Show.
They wind up the U.K. leg of the Fundamental Tour with a show in Swindon.
The Boys resume work on ‘In Slow Motion,’ a song they had started writing the day before. Chris composes music while Neil works on the lyrics.
A very busy, productive PSB day in Berlin. Among other things, they listen to some of the music they’ve already composed for A Man from the Future, select the Gareth Pugh designs for the clothes they will wear for their appearance during the closing ceremony of the Olympics, and begin work on ‘Love Is a Bourgeois Construct’ based on a Michael Nyman composition Chris had downloaded earlier in the day.
Having arrived in Copenhagen in preparation for their concert there two days from now, the Boys enjoy a relaxing day of dining and shopping.
The second Electric Tour concert Sydney.
The Pet Shop Boys provide the closing performance of the three-day TresSesenta Festival in Pamplona, Spain.
Continuing work from the day before, they develop ‘Johnny’s Dark Side’ and ‘Beautiful Laundrette,’ the latter track based on their old Bobby ‘O’ demo of ‘I Get Excited.’
They perform this evening in Leipzig, Germany.
Despite heavy rain just before going onstage, the Boys manage a successful show for their second night in a row in Madrid, this time at the Primavera Sound festival at the Cívitas Metropolitano.