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.
‘Home and Dry’ is released as a single in the U.K.
The Pet Shop Boys bring their Fundamental Tour show to Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
Neil and Chris appear on BBC1 prime-time television’s The One Show.
They’ve been very busy in the studio of late. Today they announce on their official website that they have just finished composing the music for Act One of their ballet, scheduled for debut in 2011.
Photographer and videographer Eric Watson succumbs to a fatal heart attack at the age of 56. Watson was extremely important in the history of the Pet Shop Boys, having taken their first publicity photos as well as shots for numerous single covers and the albums Please and Behaviour. He was also instrumental in their signing with Epic Records, and directed several of their early music videos and their Performance concert film.
Today sees the release of the CD single of ‘The Pop Kids’ with bonus tracks. A digital bundle of remixes is also released. This same evening, Neil attends a performance by electronic musician Ulrich Schnauss at the Rich Mix performing arts center in London’s East End.
This afternoon the final scheduled performance of the debut U.S. run of the Boys’ ballet The Most Incredible Thing takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina.