On May 2 the Pet Shop Boys appear at Heaven nightclub in London, playing a four song set as part of Can You Bear It?, a benefit for Dainton Connell’s family. For the final song they are joined by Suggs and Carl from Madness, in rambunctious high spirits, to perform a dance version of Madness’s “My Girl”: “It was a very emotional night”.
On October 27 a Pet Shop Boys-produced single by the British artist Sam Taylor-Wood, “I’m in love with a German film star”, is released on the cult German dance label Kompakt. It is the Pet Shop Boys’ third collaboration with Sam Taylor-Wood though the previous one was released under the pseudonym Kiki Kokova. The song is an electronic reinterpretation of the 1981 single by the Passions, a suggestion of Neil’s.
This year’s annual Christmas single from the Killers — “Joseph (Better You Than Me)” — is originally planned as a collaboration between The Killers and Elton John. Neil gets involved after Brandon Flowers asks for help with the lyric; in the end Neil’s short section of guide vocal for the lyric he contributes will remain in the final song when it is made available for download.
In an interview appearing in the Minneapolis-St. Paul City Pages newspaper, Neil again addresses the problem of PSB being thought of as a ‘gay group’ in the U.S.
‘Numb’ is released as a single.
The Pet Shop Boys perform at ‘Personal Fest’ in Buenos Aires. Meanwhile, back in their native U.K., the TV documentary Synth Britannia makes its debut. It includes interview segments with the Boys, who are mentioned on several occasions, including a bit of the ‘West End Girls’ video after which the narrator says, ‘The Pet Shop Boys gave us a glimpse of what the future held for British electronic music.’
The ‘2013 leg’ of their Electric Tour having completed the night before, Neil and Chris catch a flight from Mexico City this evening back home to England.
The Unity Tour comes to an end with the Pet Shop Boys’ (and New Order’s) final show of the tour in Vancouver, British Columbia.