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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

1987

An interview with Neil runs in the U.K. publication Woman.

2000

The Boys perform in Karlstad, Sweden.

2006

Continuing their summer Fundamental Tour, they perform at the Exit Festival in Novi Sad, Serbia.

2011

The last of eight PSB/Take That concerts at Wembley Stadium—and the final show of the tour in the British Isles—takes place this evening.

2013

The Pet Shop Boys perform in Freiburg, Germany.

2015

Having received Jean-Michel Jarre’s backing track for what will soon become ‘Brick England,’ Chris and Neil spend the first of several days adding musical parts and vocals to it.

2019

The Boys continue work on ‘No Boundaries,’ restructuring it and revising the lyrics.

2022

They bring their Dreamworld Tour to Spain’s Bilbao Live Festival.

2023

They conclude the brief continental European leg of their current tour with a show in Gothenberg, Sweden.