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History

April 2015

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”.

August 2015

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.

December 2015

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.

On this day

1985

The original version of ‘Opportunities’ is released as a single.

2000

The Pet Shop Boys drop out from this year’s Roskilde Festival because nine attendees had died the day before during Pearl Jam’s set.

2006

In the wake of England’s loss to Portugal and elimination from the World Cup competition, BBC Sports airs a montage using the Boys’ ‘Numb’ as background music.

2007

Chris and Neil—or, more accurately, their avatars—perform as part of SecondFest, a three-day music festival taking place in Second Life, an ‘online 3D virtual reality world.’

2011

They meet with their manager, Angela Becker, to play songs they have recently composed and to discuss possible producers for their next album. This same evening, the film of the Tennant-Lowe ballet The Most Incredible Thing has its world television broadcast debut on BBC4.

2013

The Boys perform in Dortmund, Germany.

2014

Neil and Chris are interviewed this evening on the BBC Radio 4 arts program Front Row.

2017

They perform this evening at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin.

2023

Chris and Neil bring the 2023 leg of their Dreamworld Tour to the continent with their appearance in Cologne, Germany.

2024

The Boys perform this evening in Prague.