On May 27 the Pet Shop Boys appear at the Sunderland Stadium of Light, joining Take That at their invitation as “special guests” on their first reunion concerts as a five-piece on what will be the biggest British tour ever – 29 British stadium shows – followed by a short European leg. “45 minutes of intensity,” says Chris.
On December 31 the Pet Shop Boys appear at a New Year’s Eve concert on an island in Sydney Harbour.
On February 6 a new Pet Shop Boys album, Format, is released, a collection of b‑sides and bonus tracks from the years 1996 to 2009. (As such, it is a sequel to Alternative.) Chris noticed the word that became its title on the side of a large industrial shed somewhere in Scandinavia; the album does, of course, gather together songs that were released on the various ever-changing single formats over these years. “If you compare it with Alternative, I think the quality is as high, if not higher sometimes,” says Neil.
On March 25 a revised version of the ballet The Most Incredible Thing begins its second run at Sadler’s Wells before two performances in Austria.
A previously unreleased Pet Shop Boys song, “Listening”, appears on the album Out Of My Hands, by the former A‑ha singer Morten Harket, after they had been approached and asked to contribute to his record. “When we wrote it we didn’t think it was very Pet Shop Boys, although we liked it,” says Neil. “So we sent it to him.”
On June 6, a video for a new song, “Invisible”, appears on the official Pet Shop Boys website and many other websites. “We just wanted to surprise people with a new song that gives them a taste of our new album and a video which really illustrates the song,” says Neil. The video is by Los Angeles-based artist, Brian Bress and a version of it, with no sound, was originally shown at his show in a Los Angeles gallery earlier in the year.
On August 6, a new Pet Shop Boys single, “Winner” – a song written during Take That’s stadium tour the previous summer after Chris suggested that they wrote a mid-tempo anthem – is released. “It’s about being in something like the X‑Factor or Eurovision song contest – coming from nowhere and finding yourself a winner and the crowd is all cheering,” explains Neil. “Part of me was also thinking about when we got to number one with “West End girls” and we were winners, and I was wondering whether it was going to last. And Chris saying at Top Of The Pops when we were number one: ‘Don’t look triumphant.’ It’s a transience-of-fame song, really. It’s also saying: it’s not where you’ve got to, it’s how you got there that counts. It’s the camaraderie that is the really enjoyable thing, rather than just the blatant success that probably isn’t going to last.” While in the studio in May to recording extra tracks for the “Winner” single, the Bee Gee Robin Gibb died and the Pet Shop Boys immediately recorded “I started a joke”, a song Gibb wrote when he was seventeen, as a tribute.
On August 12 the Pet Shop Boys appeared at the closing ceremony of the London Olympic games, performing “West End girls” in front of a global TV audience in pointy hats and costumes designed by Gareth Pugh as they were cycled around the Olympic stadium running track on chariots. “I think one could say it was unique, knowing that you were going to be seen everywhere in the world. We were only on for two minutes but it was a good two minutes. It was a great feeling standing there – we had little backrests so we could lean back and so we didn’t fall off.” This was the highpoint of a busy Olympic summer for the Pet Shop Boys. “West end girls” had already been played during the opening ceremony on July 27, as the Chinese athletes entered the stadium, and the following day the Pet Shop Boys had performed three songs at Wimbledon as part of the Olympic tennis tournament. Then on the morning of September 10 – after phone calls from the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister David Cameron – Neil and Chris interrupted their German album promotion and flew to London by private jet to perform “Winner”, “West End girls” and “Go West” at the athlete’s parade, live on three TV channels, surrounded by Britain’s celebrating Olympians and Paralympians: “The whole thing was quite exciting.”
On August 25, after several previous false finishes, the very final date of the Pandemonium tour takes place over three years after it began, at the Rått og Råde Festival in Stavanger, Norway. The night before Neil and Chris had played their first ever concert inside the Arctic circle at a festival in Tromsø.
On September 5 the Pet Shop Boys perform a one-off concert at Berlin Hebbel am Ufer 1, streamed live worldwide, to promote their forthcoming new album. Attendees received a special booklet and an exclusive seven-inch single featuring two mixes of “Winner”, one otherwise unavailable
Neil attends an invitation-only live set by Depeche Mode at a South London TV studio. The DM performance, in which they debut tracks from their soon-to-be-released album Ultra, is videotaped for later broadcast on MTV.
Chris begins work in a London studio (sans Neil, but assisted by Pete Gleadall) on the music for ‘Nine Out of Ten.’
The Boys tape their appearance on Later… with Jools Holland, to be aired two days from now. They perform four songs.
They work on several tracks, including their first attempt at the old Madness song ‘My Girl.’
The CNN website runs a story about how the Pet Shop Boys had rejected a recent request by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) that they change their name to the ‘Rescue Shelter Boys’ as a gesture toward educating the public about the downside of pet shops. CNN even makes it the subject of a poll on the home page of their website.
Chris and Neil attend Boy George’s show this evening at London’s Leicester Square Theatre. Afterwards George writes on Twitter, ‘Lovely to see the Pet Shop Boys tonite. Neil is looking über well and Chris is still a lovely rascal!’