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.
The Sun reports that the Pet Shop Boys are breaking up—an assertion that they immediately deny.
Chris and Neil finish writing a new song, ‘The Performance of My Life’ (which they will ultimately turn over to Shirley Bassey), and then attend Simon McBurney’s show A Minute Too Late.
The Boys are working on a new song titled ‘Heaven Is a Playground,’ which will eventually evolve into ‘Leaving.’
They work with Andrew Dawson on the song ‘Ego Music.’
As Chris works on a new song (which one specifically is unknown), Neil goes through old recordings in search of tracks that might be included as ‘bonuses’ on upcoming album reissues.
Continuing their round of promotional appearances in the wake of the release of Hotspot, the Boys are interviewed on Nihal Arthanayake’s BBC radio show, and Neil (alone) appears on ITV’s Loose Women show.