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 announce their new double A‑side single, “New London boy / All the young dudes”, and an accompanying remixes single, both of which are now available to pre-order on CD at the link below.
Recent Pet Texts
I saw a wonderful concert by Arooj Aftab in Berlin tonight. She has the most beautiful voice and is accompanied by brilliant musicians who play with a rare delicacy. I’ve been listening to her album “Night Reign” which I highly recommend! Neil x
Happy Birthday, Chris!
The Hidden Cameras’ 2009 album, “Origin: Orphan”, is re-released tomorrow, October 4, including Pet Shop Boys “organic” remix of the song, “Colour of a Man” which has never been properly released before. Video and streaming links below.
We are starting work early this year on the 2025 edition of “Annually”, which, as always, will include a selection of your letters answered by Chris and Neil. So if you have a question for them, email it to info@beckerbrown.com with “Annually letters” in the subject line by next Monday, 7th October. (Alternatively, you can leave a question on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter). Details on how to pre-order your copy of Annually 2025 will be available on this site soon.
Pet Shop Boys’ latest single “Feel” is released on CD today and available to order at the link below. Artwork photo by Corbin Shaw. This is PSB’s fourth CD single release this year — the others are still available at our online store. Will there be a fifth?
“Feel” has just been added to the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist. The “Feel” CD single will be released next week Friday, 27th September. Link to pre-order below.
Neil will be appearing as a special guest vocalist for “Great Movie Songs with Anne Dudley & Friends” at The Roundhouse, London on Tuesday, 25th March 2025, as part of the London Soundtrack Festival. Full details and ticket information at the link below.
On this day 20 years ago, Pet Shop Boys premiered their new score to Eisenstein’s classic 1925 Russian silent film “Battleship Potemkin” in front of an estimated audience of 20,000 at London’s Trafalgar Square. PSB performed behind gauze with the Dresdner Sinfoniker conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer, playing orchestrations by Torsten Rasch while the movie is projected on a giant screen above the performers. Listen to the score at the link below. Photo: Open Culture