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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

1989

Chris and Neil begin the first of several successive days in the studio recording tracks with Dusty Springfield for her upcoming album, eventually titled Reputation.

1994

Neil participates in a Stonewall benefit public reading (broadcast live over the radio) of Oscar Wilde’s The Ballad of Reading Gaol, along with various other celebrities including Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry.

2003

The Boys attend the launch party in London for Streetcore, the posthumous final album by former Clash lead singer Joe Strummer.

2009

The Pet Shop Boys perform in Belo Horizonte, the first of four Pandemonium Tour shows in Brazil.

2013

The Boys appear on the Los Angeles listener-supported KCRW radio show Morning Becomes Eclectic. Not only are they interviewed, but Chris and Neil also perform several numbers from their Electric Tour setlist.