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.
After Neil and Chris help pay for a gay-supportive anti-Clause 28 newspaper ad, a spokesperson tells the Daily Mirror that ‘they support a variety of causes.’
The Boys perform in Berlin.
Neil finishes recording vocals for ‘Fugitive.’
The Pet Shop Boys had been nominated for two 2006 Grammy Awards—Best Dance/Electronic Album (Fundamental) and Best Dance Single (‘I’m with Stupid’)—but lose out to Madonna (Confessions on a Dance Floor) and Justin Timberlake (‘Sexy Back’), respectively.
Chris appears as a witness at St. Pancras Coroner’s Court in London during the inquest into the death of PSB friend and assistant Dainton Connell in an automobile accident the previous October in Moscow. He testifies how he’d seen Dainton only shortly before the accident at a dinner celebrating his (Chris’s) birthday.
Despite that he’s suffering from a nasty bout of either food poisoning or stomach flu, Neil is interviewed via telephone for a radio show on various subjects, including the upcoming new album Yes, the BRITS Awards, and submitting a song shortly before Christmas to Shirley Bassey, who’s in the process of recording a new album of her own.
They begin writing a new song titled ‘Vocal.’
Just as they had attended the first ‘preview’ show nearly a week earlier, both Chris and Neil attend the ‘official’ opening night performance of the second London run of Musik.
Neil posts on the official PSB website that he has just received the COVID vaccine.