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.
Along with several friends, a young Neil Tennant attends a David Bowie concert at Newcastle City Hall. After the show he and his chums hang around backstage, where Neil gets David’s autograph on a promo poster.
The Boys perform the second of three consecutive nights’ shows in Birmingham, U.K., filmed for the Performance concert video.
They perform in Houston, Texas.
The Boys’ remix of Yoko Ono’s ‘Walking on Thin Ice’ is released in the U.K.
They perform at the Skive Beach Party in Denmark.
The Blackpool Gazette, Chris’s hometown newspaper, reports that Chris has donated a keyboard to the Blackpool Music Academy in support of the paper’s ‘Give Us a Tune’ charity drive for music education. Chris tells the Gazette, ‘I’m happy to help a little with this worthwhile project. Very best wishes for the rest of the campaign.’
This evening ‘An Evening with Pet Shop Boys’ is broadcast on BBC Radio 2, hosted by Jo Whiley. She chats with Neil and Chris, who also select some of the music played on air.
The Boys work in the studio on a song titled ‘He’s Not Coming Home.’
They perform at the Heartland Festival held at Egeskov Castle in Kværndrup, Denmark.