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.
Dusty and Neil record together the concluding vocal bits—‘We don’t have to fall apart, we don’t have to fight…’—for ‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’
‘What Have I Done to Deserve This?’ debuts on the U.S. singles chart. On the same day, the Boys appear on Top of the Pops, performing ‘Always on My Mind.’
Chris and Neil perform three songs (‘The Patience of a Saint,’ ‘Disappointed,’ and ‘Getting Away with It’) live with Electronic at London’s Wembley Hall.
They wind up their DiscoVery tour in São Paulo, Brazil.
Neil sits down in the upstairs living room of his London home with Chris Heath for a lengthy interview that appears in the February 2008 issue of the PSB Fan Club magazine Literally. (Chris—Lowe, that is—arrives at the house just as the interview is about to begin but, after making tea and sandwiches, he heads downstairs so as not to eavesdrop.)
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Münster, Germany.
After working on a new track titled ‘A Dream,’ they start on another new song, ‘Hold On,’ based on the chord progression of Handel’s ‘Eternal Source of Light Divine.’ Afterwards they have dinner at a Chinese restaurant.
Neil is one of many celebrities who attend a private exhibition this evening at London’s Royal Theatre of paintings and photographs by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.
This evening they perform in Johannesburg, the first of three shows in South Africa, and their first ever in that nation. In fact, it’s their first-ever concert on the entire continent of Africa. (The Boys have now performed on every continent except Antarctica.)