April 1984
The first version of ‘West End girls’ is released. It is a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and a small hit in France and Belgium.
History
October 1984
They make their first ever stage appearance at the Fridge Nightclub in Brixton, singing and playing over tapes.
On this day
1986
BPI awards a U.K. gold record to ‘West End Girls.’
2000
On the newstands this month—Out magazine has the Pet Shop Boys on the cover. Inside they lead off the article on the ‘Out 100’ people who ‘defined the year 1999.’
2007
Worldwide New Year celebrations begin with PSB music: the fireworks show in Sydney, Australia, broadcast around the world, starts with the intro to the Boys’ recording of ‘Numb’.
2011
About 4½ minutes into the official synchronized soundtrack to London’s New Year’s fireworks spectacular, the familiar strains of ‘West End Girls’ begin to play. But it proves to be a mashup of WEG with Florence + the Machine’s ‘You Got the Love,’ which then plays only briefly before switching to another track altogether.
2013
The Pet Shop Boys ring in the new year by performing in front of Berlin’s famed Brandenburg Gate shortly after midnight New Year’s Eve (so, yes, it is on New Year’s Day).
2017
The German radio station WDR2 broadcasts a special program devoted to the Pet Shop Boys, featuring highlights from their concert in Köln (Cologne) the previous November as well as PSB hits and selections from their most recent albums, Electric and Super.
2018
Once again PSB music serves as the musical soundtrack to the post-midnight New Year’s fireworks in Sydney, Australia: this year it’s the strains of their version of ‘Go West.’
2019
To help kick off the new year, the film of the Pet Shop Boys’ Inner Sanctum show at London’s Royal Opera House in July 2018 has its world television premiere (in an edited edition) in the very early morning hours (0:25 a.m.) on Germany’s 3Sat network.
2022
The Pet Shop Boys appear shortly after midnight on ‘The Big New Years & Years Eve Party’ (which had begun about 50 minutes earlier, when it was still 2021), hosted by Olly Alexander/Years & Years, on BBC One. They perform ‘It’s a Sin’ and ‘Dreamland’ with Olly.
- Facts collated by geowayne.com