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 begin working with K‑Klass on ‘Metamorphosis.’
‘New York City Boy’ hits the U.S. singles sales chart at its #53 peak.
Neil announces on the official PSB website that they completed work today on their next, as yet unnamed album, scheduled for Spring 2009 release. The final task was completing the mix on the song slated to be the first single, ‘Love etc.’ (The album, of course, would soon be titled Yes.)
The Pet Shop Boys perform this evening in Köln (Cologne), Germany. The concert is recorded in its entirety by WDR (a German public broadcasting organization) for a special New Year’s Eve radio broadcast.
Perhaps inspired by the Berlin Christmas lights they recently went out to view, Neil and Chris write a new (and as yet unreleased) Christmas song, ‘You Know Where You Are with Winter.’