On April 22, the Pet Shop Boys musical Closer to Heaven is performed in London for the first time in fourteen years, in a sold-out month-long run at The Union Theatre. (It will return for a further five weeks beginning on October 21.). For this revival, at the Pet Shop Boys’ request, the musical’s original final number, “Positive role model”, is replaced by “Vocal”.
On August 15, the final date of the much-extended Electric tour – which began in March, 2013 – takes place at the Flow Festival in Helsinki. The tour has visited over forty countries.
On December 2, the Pet Shop Boys appear at MAMA – the Mnet Asian Music Awards – in Hong Kong. They are given the Worldwide Inspiration award and play a lengthy live medley, joined for their final two songs, “What have I done to deserve this?” and “Vocal”, by the K‑Pop artist f(x). At the organisers’ request, they wear the Electric tour straw jackets for, possibly, the final time.
‘West End Girls’ debuts on the U.S. singles chart, where it will remain for 20 weeks, including one week at #1.
Having spent the month of February in Berlin working on new songs, the Boys fly back to London for the opening later in March of their ballet The Most Incredible Thing. (A round of promotional activities will soon begin.)
Neil and Chris spend, as they say on their website, ‘a great day’ at Capitol Studios in the famed Capitol Tower building in Hollywood, overseeing the recording sessions for their next album’s brass and string parts.
This afternoon both Chris and Neil attend the final performance (at least for now) of Musik at London’s Leicester Square Theatre.