On March 19 two books by Chris Heath – Literally from 1990, and Pet Shop Boys versus America from 1993 – were reissued by the Penguin imprint Cornerstone, completely redesigned by Farrow design, and new introductions and afterwords written by the Pet Shop Boys and Chris Heath.
On April 21, Discovery, the film of the Pet Shop Boys 1994 South American tour – “the tour I enjoyed the most,” Chris notes – is released on DVD, accompanied by the release for the first time of a CD of their performance.
On May 7, a new Pet Shop Boys song, the ten-minute “Cricket wife”, is released on CD (accompanied by “West End girls (New lockdown version)”) with the periodical Annually 2021. “Cricket wife”, written during lockdown, began as an extended piece of music created by Chris. “My mum asked me if I would write a piece of classical music for her,” he explains. “I thought, ‘Well, I’ve got nothing else better to do.’ ‘Classical’ in inverted commas, obviously – I’m no classical composer. In the style of classical music.” When Neil received it, it struck him that it might fit a poem he had written some years before. “It’s really about my parents,” he says. “My father played cricket for many years.”
On December 26, the Pet Shop Boys host a three-hour radio show, Pet Shop Boys, Takeover, on BBC Radio 2 between 9pm and midnight, playing a selection of favourite songs; a broadcast also billed by Radio 2 as “Neil and Chris’s Unpredictable Party Playlist”. (The show has been pre-recorded on the afternoon of December 13.) The Pet Shop Boys have recorded five new jingles for the show, titled “Takeover”, “Strings”, “Beautiful”, “Boxing Day” and “Electric”, and introduce a joyously eclectic selection of music, including records by Matt Monro, Alcazar, Paul Weller (their recent remix of his song “Cosmic Fringes”), Gloria Ann Taylor, Eric Prydz, Françoise Hardy and The 1975. “We’ve only ever done radio when we can play records that we want,” says Chris. “I love doing radio. There’s something very satisfying about broadcasting to the nation.”
The Pet Shop Boys make one of their earliest live appearances at London’s Camden Palace at a show called ‘The Alternative Top of the Pops.’ Curiously, sources differ as to which song(s) they perform.
An interview with Neil appears in the issue with this date of the U.K. gay magazine Boyz.
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Nottingham, U.K.
They enjoy a relaxing day on a Portuguese beach before continuing their summer tour with an appearance shortly after midnight (technically July 17) at the Super Bock Rock Festival at Herdade Cabeço da Flauta in nearby Aldeia do Meco.
This evening’s second Copenhagen Take That/PSB concert is canceled on account of Robbie Williams suffering a case of food poisoning.
The Boys perform at the Ejekt Festival just outside Athens, Greece.
Neil goes to Pete Gleadall’s studio to work with him on the mix of ‘No Boundaries,’ during which they add ‘Neilatron’ parts.
Two nights after their first Canary Islands concert, the Boys perform there again, this time at the Gran Canaria Arena. This is the final show of the 2022 leg of their Dreamworld Greatest Hits Tour.
They perform at the Starlite Occident Festival in Marbella, Spain.