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.
The Boys start work on a new version of ‘In the Night’ for The Clothes Show.
Neil has just spent the past week in Berlin serving in a ‘consulting producer’ capacity for Rufus Wainwright’s next album, which is released early the following year with the title Release the Stars.
Having performed there the night before, Neil and Chris remain in Singapore long enough to observe the Independence Day celebrations.
They perform an abbreviated Electric Tour setlist for their appearance this evening at the Sonic Mania festival in Tokyo.
The Pet Shop Boys appear in concert at the Lokerse Festival in Belgium.br>
They perform at the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden.