Today’s New Zealand Herald newspaper reports that the Lan Chile Airbus A340 flying from Santiago, Chile, to Auckland, New Zealand, on Tuesday night came close to being hit “by blazing pieces of a Russian satellite hurtling into New Zealand airspace. The disintegrating satellite was so close to the aircraft that the pilot could hear the roar it made as it broke the sound barrier.…At the aircraft’s cruising speed of 880km/h it was within about 40 seconds of a potential catastrophe.”
On board the plane, asleep and unaware of this drama, were Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe and the entire Pet Shop Boys touring party. Lan Chile flight 801 left Santiago late on Monday evening and, crossing the International Date Line, arrived safely at Auckland at 4 am on Wednesday morning.
Pet Shop Boys perform their debut New Zealand concert tonight at the St James Theatre, Auckland.
PSB plane “40 seconds from air disaster”
Tickets for the first three “It’s a sin” dance shows to be held in 2027 in Manchester, Edinburgh and Cardiff are on sale now at the link below. The show, developed by Rambert and executive-produced by PSB and Russell T Davies, will also be visiting Luxembourg, Liverpool, Birmingham, Plymouth, Southampton, Norwich, Newcastle, Truro, Glasgow and Sheffield throughout 2027. Information on tickets for these dates will be released in due course.
Recent News
Pet Shop Boys’ “Since 1984” range has just been updated with new items, including three “Suburbia” and “Leaving” T‑Shirts and a “Since 1984” sweatshirt.
PSB are excited to announce “Obskur Pet Shop Boys”, two exclusive live concerts at Huxleys Neue Welt in Berlin on 12th and 13th July 2026.
Check out the new “Since 1984” merchandise items which have just been added to the official PSB store, including T‑shirts, a hoodie and a cap.
Pet Shop Boys are happy to announce that they will return to Norway this summer for a “Dreamworld” show at Oslo’s Unity Arena on 20th August.
Pet Shop Boys are pleased to confirm that they will be headlining this year’s edition of Suset Festival in Esbjerg, Denmark on Saturday, 22nd August
Pet Shop Boys Volume, the complete visual record of PSB from 1984 to 2024, is published by Thames & Hudson today.
Pet Shop Boys are playing their first of five “Obscure” shows at the Electric Ballroom in Camden tonight.