Last night’s concert with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra was a wonderful experience for us. The orchestra played with such luxurious power and conviction, conducted by Dominic Wheeler, and the Manchester Chamber Choir brought ethereal beauty to, for instance, “Miracles” and “He dreamed of machines” (from our new piece about Alan Turing). To hear Johnny Marr playing the guitar riff from “This must be the place I waited years to leave” was a real thrill so many years after he played on the original record; his acoustic guitar playing on “Breathing space” was gorgeous. Other highlights for me were performing live for the first time “It couldn’t happen here”, “The survivors” and “For all of us”. Sven Helbig’s orchestral arrangements were both magnificent and subtle: “New York City boy” was returned to Broadway; “He dreamed of machines” had a pale beauty. Many thanks to everyone at the BBC, Parlophone and our management and tour personnel for making it happen, to Pete Gleadall for programming and to Jo Whiley for introducing it. The concert can be heard on BBC Radio 2 tonight at 8 pm. I hope you enjoy it. Neil x (Photograph by Kate Southall/BBC.)
Pet Shop Boys’ “Discography” is reissued on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 1991.
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To celebrate today’s vinyl reissue of Pet Shop Boys’ “Discography”, two fans from the unofficial PSB “In Depth” podcast series are discussing in detail all 18 songs featured on the compilation. The first part of the podcast is out now at the links below, with part two to follow next week.
We are very sad to hear that Alan Yentob has died. Alan was a legend in British TV, responsible for some of the BBC’s finest programmes including the documentary series, “Arena” and “Imagine”. We were lucky enough to be the subject of one of his “Imagine” documentaries broadcast last year. He was a stimulating person to spend time with and a great supporter of all artistic endeavours. We send our sincere condolences to his wife, children, friends and colleagues. Neil and Chris x
We visited the John Rylands Library in Manchester yesterday and saw the fascinating “Secret Public” exhibition which examines “the profound influence of LGBTQ performers, artists and activists on mainstream pop culture” and includes Neil’s original manuscripts of the lyrics for “West End girls” and “It’s a sin”. Highly recommended. Full details at the link below.
To accompany the release of Mark Springer’s “Sleep of Reason” album, which features Neil on vocals, a video for the opening track, “Phantoms and Monsters”, has been created by John Maybury and Daniel Goddard with footage from their forthcoming film “Confessions of a Pin Eye Zombie”. Link below.
Tickets for Pet Shop Boys’ “Dreamworld” show at the Royal Sandringham Estate on 14th August are now on sale at the link below.
I loved performing three songs at last night’s London Soundtrack Festival concert at the Roundhouse in London with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra arranged and conducted by Anne Dudley. In this photo Jake Shears and I are duetting on “Rent”. I also sang “Nothing has been proved” and “Everybody’s Talkin’” (from “Midnight Cowboy”). A great experience. Neil x
Photo: Julie Edwards
“Phantoms and Monsters”, composed by Mark Springer, with Neil Tennant on vocals and the Sacconi Quartet on strings is out now digitally at the link below.
This quintet piece is the opening track of Mark Springer’s forthcoming new album, “Sleep of Reason”, which will be released along with a solo piano piece and a quartet piece on 25th April 2025.