Pet Shop BoysPet Shop Boys, Pandemonium Tour, Birmingham NIA 18/12/09
Twenty years ago I saw the Pet Shop Boys at their second ever gig, at the NEC Arena in Birmingham. They had refused to tour for many years, since their music didn't really have a 'live' aspect other than the vocals. Indeed, at the gig itself there were no musicians, just a bank of four sequencers 'playing' the programmes.
To compensate, PSB knew that they had to do something away from the norm, to still create a great live show. A huge backdrop was used, and seven films were especially commissioned from Derek Jarman to be played along with the songs. Other songs featured dancers. Neil Tennant centre stage, Chris Lowe to the right, looking too cool for school.
Fastforward twenty years (where did it go?) and PSB are in Birmingham again on their Pandemonium world tour. On the empty stage prior to the gig, men in white coats adjust the microphones and check their video cameras. Two square 12 foot high piles of white cardboard boxes sit centre stage, with a keyboard off to the left of the stage and a large desk of keyboards to the right.
As the gig starts, two people enter stage left, dressed in all-in-one lycra and with boxes on their heads. They start 'playing' the sampled vocal on Heart. An opening appears in each of the large piles of boxes, and Neil and Chris walk through the openings, both also wearing boxes on their heads. Heart turns out to be a fantastic opener, and Neil keeps the box on his head throughout. Computer animations are projected onto the piles of white boxes.
A number of tracks from this year's excellent album Yes are played, including Love etc. and Did you see me coming? Personal favourite The Way It Used To Be was belted out, with one of the backing singers/dancers joining Neil on the dramatic penultimate verse prior to the electric violin.
But the overall setlist was very much a crowdpleasing one. Highlights included a storming version of Two Divided By Zero, Kings Cross (performed very emotionally) and Being Boring - the latter two being the best PSB songs for my money. Plus crowd-pleasers like Go West and Always on My Mind got everyone going. And for the serious diehards, the inclusion of Do I Have To?, another heart-rending ballad which was a B-side back in the day.
Throughout the gig the boxes were moved around by the men in white coats, sometimes built up and knocked down, and during Jealousy they were used by the fighting dancers to throw at each other. Sure, the whole boxes thing felt very Pink Floyd, but it did work well so they got away with it.
I've got to say, and I probably wouldn't normally say this kind of thing, but the dancers were absolutely amazing. There were four dancers/backing singers, used in various ways throughout the gig and mostly wearing the boxes on their heads. They really did complement the show tremendously, and I'm not just talking about when the two taller dancers stripped out of business suits to reveal short sparkly dresses... and then took the boxes off their heads to reveal that they were blonde twins. Should also note the dancing, and acted 'fighting' in Jealousy, very well choreographed.
They perform What Have I Done to Deserve This? with a tape (sample) of Dusty, and show her singing projected onto the white boxes. It worked surprisingly well; I've seen them perform this song with other people doing the Dusty part and it has never quite cut it. So Neil singing along with the actual original Dusty vocal feels the right thing to do, and it was received very well
Neil Tennant is quite an old man now, so it's obvious to draw the parallels with Morrissey, both sharing a certain pomp and swagger around a stage. But Neil is perhaps less connected with the crowd; a lot of the time he is performing rather than connecting a shared experience with them in the way Morrissey does. Perhaps I could say Neil sings to the crowd whereas Morrissey sings with them. That said, there's a hell of a lot of emotion throughout, and he has grown into a great performer.
The concert encores include West End Girls, a cover of Madness's My Girl, and their Christmas single It doesn't often snow at Christmas (sneaking well under the radar thanks to all the ratm-joe nonsense). Dancers in Christmas tree outfits bounce around atop the cardboard boxes, and fake snow falls on the stage. I guess you can get away with kitsch if you're the Pet Shop Boys.
Twenty years ago I saw the Pet Shop Boys at their second ever gig, at the NEC Arena in Birmingham. They had refused to tour for many years, since their music didn't really have a 'live' aspect other than the vocals. Indeed, at the gig itself there were no musicians, just a bank of four sequencers 'playing' the programmes.
To compensate, PSB knew that they had to do something away from the norm, to still create a great live show. A huge backdrop was used, and seven films were especially commissioned from Derek Jarman to be played along with the songs. Other songs featured dancers. Neil Tennant centre stage, Chris Lowe to the right, looking too cool for school.
Fastforward twenty years (where did it go?) and PSB are in Birmingham again on their Pandemonium world tour. On the empty stage prior to the gig, men in white coats adjust the microphones and check their video cameras. Two square 12 foot high piles of white cardboard boxes sit centre stage, with a keyboard off to the left of the stage and a large desk of keyboards to the right.
As the gig starts, two people enter stage left, dressed in all-in-one lycra and with boxes on their heads. They start 'playing' the sampled vocal on Heart. An opening appears in each of the large piles of boxes, and Neil and Chris walk through the openings, both also wearing boxes on their heads. Heart turns out to be a fantastic opener, and Neil keeps the box on his head throughout. Computer animations are projected onto the piles of white boxes.
A number of tracks from this year's excellent album Yes are played, including Love etc. and Did you see me coming? Personal favourite The Way It Used To Be was belted out, with one of the backing singers/dancers joining Neil on the dramatic penultimate verse prior to the electric violin.
But the overall setlist was very much a crowdpleasing one. Highlights included a storming version of Two Divided By Zero, Kings Cross (performed very emotionally) and Being Boring - the latter two being the best PSB songs for my money. Plus crowd-pleasers like Go West and Always on My Mind got everyone going. And for the serious diehards, the inclusion of Do I Have To?, another heart-rending ballad which was a B-side back in the day.
Throughout the gig the boxes were moved around by the men in white coats, sometimes built up and knocked down, and during Jealousy they were used by the fighting dancers to throw at each other. Sure, the whole boxes thing felt very Pink Floyd, but it did work well so they got away with it.
I've got to say, and I probably wouldn't normally say this kind of thing, but the dancers were absolutely amazing. There were four dancers/backing singers, used in various ways throughout the gig and mostly wearing the boxes on their heads. They really did complement the show tremendously, and I'm not just talking about when the two taller dancers stripped out of business suits to reveal short sparkly dresses... and then took the boxes off their heads to reveal that they were blonde twins. Should also note the dancing, and acted 'fighting' in Jealousy, very well choreographed.
They perform What Have I Done to Deserve This? with a tape (sample) of Dusty, and show her singing projected onto the white boxes. It worked surprisingly well; I've seen them perform this song with other people doing the Dusty part and it has never quite cut it. So Neil singing along with the actual original Dusty vocal feels the right thing to do, and it was received very well
Neil Tennant is quite an old man now, so it's obvious to draw the parallels with Morrissey, both sharing a certain pomp and swagger around a stage. But Neil is perhaps less connected with the crowd; a lot of the time he is performing rather than connecting a shared experience with them in the way Morrissey does. Perhaps I could say Neil sings to the crowd whereas Morrissey sings with them. That said, there's a hell of a lot of emotion throughout, and he has grown into a great performer.
The concert encores include West End Girls, a cover of Madness's My Girl, and their Christmas single It doesn't often snow at Christmas (sneaking well under the radar thanks to all the ratm-joe nonsense). Dancers in Christmas tree outfits bounce around atop the cardboard boxes, and fake snow falls on the stage. I guess you can get away with kitsch if you're the Pet Shop Boys.
