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History

March 2018

On March 10, the first American production of the Pet Shop Boys’ ballet The Most Incredible Thing premieres at the Knight Theater, Charlotte, North Carolina, performed by the Charlotte Ballet. This premiere is originally scheduled for one day earlier, but is delayed when a truss snaps during the afternoon dress rehearsal. For this new production, the Pet Shop Boys’ recorded score, mixed live, is used instead of a live orchestra, and the competition at the centre of the story is now staged through shadow-play. Neil attends. “In my opinion it was an improvement on the original,” he says. “I thought it was brilliant.”

November 2018

On November 1, a book by Neil, One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, is published in Britain by Faber & Faber. (Neil had past history with Faber & Faber: “In the late Seventies and early Eighties I used to do freelance work for them as a copy-editor and sometimes as a proof-reader. Then in the mid-Eighties I sold a book, Like Punk Never Happened by Dave Rimmer, to them, and edited it. That was the last thing I ever did in the world of book-publishing.”) He selected the lyrics during train journeys between London and Durham, choosing those he thought would read best in this form. One reason for also including a poem was “to point out that the lyrics aren’t poems, they’re lyrics”. He also wrote an introduction and added annotations to the lyrics. “It is kind of like an autobiography, really,” he says. “Surprisingly, I think it’s quite revealing. More so than I normally would be.”

On this day

1994

The Boys record a demo for ‘The View from Your Balcony.’

1995

They perform ‘Paninaro ‘95’ on Top of the Pops.

2002

The Release Tour concludes in Bangkok, Thailand.

2007

The Australian production of Seriously: Pet Shop Boys, Reinterpreted—a ‘chamber musical’ of Tennant-Lowe songs, now updated to include some material from Fundamental—begins a run for most of the month of August at the DeMarco Roxy Art House in Edinburgh, Scotland. On the same day, the Pet Shop Boys headline the Freedom 2007 festival in Malaga, Spain.

2013

Neil and Chris are in Singapore in preparation for their Electric Tour show there the following evening.

2018

They perform this evening at the Ice Hall in Helsinki, Finland.

2019

The Boys attend a dress rehearsal for Musik. Also in attendance are various show-business friends of its star, Frances Barber, including actors Ian McKellen, Simon Callow, and Derek Jacobi.