Skip to navigation Skip to content

History

March 2011

On March 14 a double-CD of the music from the ballet The Most Incredible Thing is released under the name Tennant/Lowe. It contains the full performance score of the ballet with orchestrations by Sven Helbig.

2011 March

On March 17 the ballet The Most Incredible Thing has its first public performance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Its genesis can be traced back to a week in where, by chance, two initially unrelated events took place. Ivan Putrov, a principal dancer at the Royal Ballet whom the Pet Shop Boys had got to know through Sam Taylor-Wood, called Neil to ask whether they would write a piece for him to dance to. Two days later, before Neil had even had a chance to ask Chris, Chris called to say that he’d just read a story in a new translation of Hans Christian Andersen’s tales that he thought would make a great ballet: “The Most Incredible Thing”. This eventually led to the Sadler’s Wells production, choreographed by Javier de Frutos and starring Ivan Putrov, Clemmie Sveaas and Aaron Sillis. All ten performances sell out.

May 2011

On May 27 the Pet Shop Boys appear at the Sunderland Stadium of Light, joining Take That at their invitation as “special guests” on their first reunion concerts as a five-piece on what will be the biggest British tour ever – 29 British stadium shows – followed by a short European leg. “45 minutes of intensity,” says Chris.

December 2011

On December 31 the Pet Shop Boys appear at a New Year’s Eve concert on an island in Sydney Harbour.

On this day

1989

Chris and Neil begin the first of several successive days in the studio recording tracks with Dusty Springfield for her upcoming album, eventually titled Reputation.

1994

Neil participates in a Stonewall benefit public reading (broadcast live over the radio) of Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol, along with various other celebrities including Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry.

2003

The Boys attend the launch party in London for Streetcore, the posthumous final album by former Clash lead singer Joe Strummer.

2009

The Pet Shop Boys perform in Belo Horizonte, the first of four Pandemonium Tour shows in Brazil.

2013

The Boys appear on the Los Angeles listener-supported KCRW radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic. Not only are they interviewed, but Chris and Neil also perform several numbers from their Electric Tour setlist.