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History

August 1983

Neil is sent to New York by Smash Hits to interview The Police. By this time the Pet Shop Boys are obsessed by a stream of hi energy records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, known as Bobby O’. “I thought well, if I’ve got to go and see The Police play then I’m also going to have lunch with Bobby O’ ”. Neil and Bobby O share a cheeseburger and carrot cake at a restaurant called The Apple Jack on August 19th (two years to the day since Neil and Chris met) and Bobby O’, flatered by Neil’s compliments, suggests making a record with the Pet Shop Boys.

On this day

1999

Chris and Neil settle on the final running order of the tracks on Nightlife.

2002

In the wee hours of the morning they appear on Craig Kilborn’s CBS Late Late Show.

2007

They wind up the U.K. leg of the Fundamental Tour with a show in Swindon.

2011

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.

2012

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.

2013

Having arrived in Copenhagen in preparation for their concert there two days from now, the Boys enjoy a relaxing day of dining and shopping.

2014

The second Electric Tour concert Sydney.

2015

The Pet Shop Boys provide the closing performance of the three-day TresSesenta Festival in Pamplona, Spain.

2019

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.’

2022

They perform this evening in Leipzig, Germany.

2023

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.