On February 28 the Pet Shop Boys begin a short, four-concert Russian tour, visiting Moscow and St. Petersburg, inspired by their visit to St. Petersburg to see Brian Eno the previous summer. In Moscow they perform twice in one night, once in a large arena then later in the middle of an over-crowded nightclub. The local media ask them whether they speak Russian, “We’re very good at saying ‘nyet’,” they explain.
On April 13, Twentieth Century Blues: The Songs of Noel Coward is released. It is an album of Noel Coward songs covered by contemporary musicians, co-compiled by Neil, who has been working on it for the past eighteen months. He has loved Noel Coward’s music since he first heard it in about 1970. “I think as a songwriter he’s slightly underrated,” Neil says, “simply because his plays are so famous, and people forget.” The Pet Shop Boys do a version of “Sail Away”, and amongst the other interpreters are Elton John, Paul McCartney, Suede, Robbie Williams and the Divine Comedy. “We tried to choose artists,” Neil explains, “who somehow seem to be in the Noel Coward tradition of wit, theatrically and style.” To promote the album, Neil appeared along on TFI Friday where he sang along with a busker playing Pet Shop Boys songs on an acoustic guitar.
At the request of their former American record company, the Pet Shop Boys agreed to the release of ‘Essential Pet Shop Boys’, a compilation of early Pet Shop Boys songs recorded between 1985 — 1990, including a number of rare remixes, as part of a series of limited edition CDs by other artists.
At the behest of director Gus Van Sant, the Pet Shop Boys wrote a new song, with Tom Stephan, at extremely short notice for the soundtrack of Van Sant’s remake of ‘Psycho’. It is called “Screaming”. “It’s about an obsessive fan, written from the obsessive fan’s point of view,” Neil says. “Or actually just by someone obsessed with someone who doesn’t love them.”
The Pet Shop Boys perform at the Sanremo Festival in Sanremo, Italy.
A snowy day in London. Following a visit to a studio in the city’s southwestern Battersea district where dancers are rehearsing for the Boys’ upcoming Performance tour, Chris and Neil sit down with Chris Heath for a lengthy interview that will appear in the tour program.
‘You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk’ is released as a single in Sweden.
Working in their London studio, Neil and Chris add the bridge to ‘Psychological.’
Chris states on their official website that he and Neil have begun writing songs for their next album. One of the songs they work on today, ‘Axis,’ they had written several nights before. (As it turns out, it won’t appear on their next album, Elysium, but instead serves as the opener for the next album after that, Electric.)
Neil re-records vocals for ‘Winner.’
For the second time in less than a week, Neil is the subject of a false report online. This time a horrible rumor spreads that he has suffered a major heart attack while visiting Germany and is in the intensive-care unit of a Bremen hospital. Spin magazine quickly refutes this rumor, followed in the wee hours of the next morning by Neil himself, writing on the Boys’ official website. He notes that not only is he in good health but he isn’t even in Germany. Rather, he was enjoying a dance performance at Sadler’s Wells in London when this rumor broke.
The third track from the EP Agenda, ‘What Are We Going to Do About the Rich?’ makes its debut.
A commercial for Allstate Insurance featuring the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)’ debuts during the post-game portion of today’s broadcast of Super Bowl LV. It quickly stimulates dramatically increased U.S. digital sales and streaming of the song.