Pet Shop Boys play Brighton Centre on their ‘Dreamworld: The Great Hits Live’ tour

PET SHOP BOYS – BRIGHTON CENTRE 26.6.23

My appointment with the three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, the Pet Shop Boys was well overdue, having last witnessed them performing live 4370 days ago, which equates to almost 12 years. That occasion was in Wembley Stadium as special guests of Robbie Williams and his four other TT mates! That afternoon vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe gave the packed out crowd ten numbers.

Tonight in the Brighton Centre we are subject to no less than 25 memorable tunes in support of the famed synthpop’s ‘Smash: The Singles 1985–2020’ compilation album, which dropped on 16th June and went crashing into the UK Albums Chart at number four, which is highly commendable for a 55 song triple CD/six vinyl release. Clearly, this evening was to be a taster of the 55 selected tracks, otherwise we would be watching them for in excess of four and a half hours, which some might say, is heading into Laurie Anderson territory.

Billed as ‘Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live’, the punters were fully aware that this was going to be wall to wall hits, just like their headline performance exactly a year ago to the day at Glastonbury, where they thrilled the masses with 20 songs, most of which would be given an outing this evening. But which hits would they choose for us, as they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were even listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of ‘The Guinness Book of Records’. Having said that, a Pet Shop Boys show is always more than just the music, it’s a senses overload. You never really know what hats and costumes they will be wearing and what the stage set looks like….

After a half hour set played across the soundsystem to get folk in the zone – the highlight of which was ‘Papua New Guinea’ by The Future Sound Of London – the volume got noticeably louder as the opening bars of the PSB’s intro tune, ‘Babel (Maceo Plex Remix)’ by Rone rang out at 8:14pm. The house lights were still up, but then they eventually gave way to a white light searchlight display and by 8:17pm the crowd gave out a huge roar as 68 year old Neil Francis Tennant and 63 year old Christopher Sean Lowe grace us with their presence.

They first met in a hi-fi shop on King’s Road in Chelsea, London, in 1981. Tennant had purchased a Korg MS-10 synthesizer which sparked a conversation with Lowe. Discovering that they had a mutual interest in disco and electronic music, they became friends. In particular, the pair had a shared love of electropop records. According to Neil, he and Chris would listen to “pioneers of electronic music”, including OMD, Soft Cell, Kraftwerk, the Human League and Depeche Mode. I too have been a fan of all of these bands, which started in the mid 1970’s when hearing ‘Autobahn’ from Kraftwerk. The future of electronic music and beyond, was irreversibly changed with that release. It’s not surprising that the Pet Shop Boys spark was lit by that quartet of acts, all of which are still operating in one form or another to this very day.

The Pet Shop Boys are playing at the Brighton Centre for the first time in over nine years, having last performed here on 29th May 2014. Tonight’s opening number was ‘Suburbia’ and I can report that thankfully Chris wasn’t stuck behind a giant screen like he was for last year’s Glasto opening rendition. Tonight the duo were sporting the tuning fork headwear that featured on the tour posters for ‘Suburbia’ and the following number ‘Can You Forgive Her?’ They were standing under two streetlamp design props, both of which were moveable and throughout the set, they were slid to the far extremes of the stage and back again. Behind them was a screen which projected films for every number, behind which were situated a trio of touring musicians, Clare Uchima, Simon Tellier and Afrika Green who assisted with extra keyboards, drums, percussion, guitar and a trio of backing vocals, although these players weren’t really visible until around the seventh song.

My favourite PSB’s single, ‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)’ was the third choice, and Neil’s face was visible for the first time. Their ‘Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)’ U2 and Frankie Valli combined medley was up next. The crowd certainly got their arms in the air, waving them from side to side during the ‘I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ section. The mood was chilled after this, as ‘Rent’ was performed. ‘I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More’ came next, and as my colleague quite rightly observed, that the intro to this bore an uncanny resemblance to Chic’s 1977 ‘Everybody Dance’ hit single. With a title like that, you might even think that it was a song from The Smiths. Musically, you can always spot a distinctive PSB tune, it’s fair to note that they are the Ramones of the synthpop world, in that, if you’ve got a winning formula, you stick to it, so if it ain’t broke … .and so on.

After the next track, ‘So Hard’, Neil and Chris vacated their streetlight podiums and the aforementioned backing trio became visible for the first time. Chris relocated to a higher podium, which was located a few feet further back and so virtually joined the other three. Neil returned with a change of clothing and they set off with the Rio Carnival-esque ‘Single-Bilingual’ / ‘Se a vida é (That’s the Way Life Is)’, which followed on from ‘Left To My Own Devices’. After these, Neil informed us that the next tune was penned whilst the duo were on holiday in St. Lucia and Chris won a game of dominos and did a victory dance, thus ‘Domino Dancing’ was born. Another story followed, when the duo were in Austin, Texas they got recognised by a guy in a cowboy hat and he asked if they were playing live, which they affirmed, then they asked the cowboy what he was doing there and the reply was ‘Monkey Business’. Thus another tune was born.

After ‘New York City Boy’, Neil informed us that the very first tune they ever wrote together, wasn’t actually released until several years later (9 to be precise), that being the ballad ‘Jealousy’. For ‘Love Comes Quickly’ the highest lighting rig above the stage was lowered for an intimate feel. ‘Paninaro’ was up next and was the sole number to feature Chris on lead vocal duty. This segued straight into ‘Always On My Mind’, which suddenly saw hordes of fans across the trio of balconies stand to their feet for the first time for a spot of dancing. Come to think of it, quite a few tunes segued into each other during this 110 minute set. Another nod to the Ramones then!

For the newest tune, 2020’s ‘Dreamland’, Neil and Chris changed their attire to silver overcoats. For those that are wondering, the oldest material stemmed from 1986. ‘Heart’ followed and then the streetlamp props were moved back into the centre-front stage for ‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’, which saw Neil share vocals with Clare Uchima for the Dusty Springfield (1939-1999) parts.

Amazingly, my personal choice cuts from this evening were up next in the form of the combined dance numbers of the Sterling Void cover ‘It’s Alright’ (from 1988 ‘Introspective’ album), which was segued straight into ‘Vocal’ (from 2013 ‘Electric’ album). I totally get that I might even be in a minority of one, of the circa 5000 souls present tonight, many of whom would no doubt opt for 1987’s ‘It’s A Sin’ which closed the main set after ‘Go West’ had been played, but I’m not really worried as I had a truly fabulous night out!

The musicians did return to the stage for a couple more extended version numbers of ‘West End Girls’ and ‘Being Boring’, which they notably were wearing their garb that they used to wear back then, thus Neil was sporting his long double-breasted trench coat and Chris was wearing his Boy brand cap and casualwear. This was a very nice touch and by 10:07pm they were done. I really can’t imagine anyone that was present tonight, coming away from the concert not having had a great time!

Pet Shop Boys:
Neil Tennant – vocals
Chris Lowe – synths, backing vocals
Touring musicians:
Clare Uchima, Simon Tellier and Afrika Green

Pet Shop Boys setlist:
(Intro tune) ‘Babel (Maceo Plex Remix)’ by Rone
‘Suburbia’ (from 1986 ‘Please’ album)
‘Can You Forgive Her?’ (from 1993 ‘Very’ album)
‘Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)’ (from 1986 ‘Please’ album)
‘Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)’ (U2 & Frankie Valli combined cover) (from 1991 ‘Discography: The Complete Singles Collection’ album)
‘Rent’ (from 1987 ‘Actually’ album)
‘I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More’ (from 1999 ‘Nightlife’ album)
‘So Hard’ (from 1990 ‘Behaviour’ album)
‘Left To My Own Devices’ (from 1988 ‘Introspective’ album)
‘Single-Bilingual’ / ‘Se a vida é (That’s the Way Life Is)’ (from 1996 ‘Bilingual’ album)
‘Domino Dancing’ (from 1988 ‘Introspective’ album)
‘Monkey Business’ (from 2020 ‘Hotspot’ album)
‘New York City Boy’ (from 1999 ‘Nightlife’ album)
‘Jealousy’ (from 1990 ‘Behaviour’ album)
‘Love Comes Quickly’ (from 1986 ‘Please’ album)
‘Paninaro’ (from 1986 ‘Disco’ album)
‘Always On My Mind’ (Gwen McCrae cover) (from 1988 ‘Introspective’ album)
‘Dreamland’ (from 2020 ‘Hotspot’ album)
‘Heart’ (from 1987 ‘Actually’ album)
‘What Have I Done To Deserve This?’ (from 1987 ‘Actually’ album)
‘It’s Alright’ (Sterling Void cover) (from 1988 ‘Introspective’ album)
‘Vocal’ (from 2013 ‘Electric’ album)
‘Go West’ (Village People cover) (from 1993 ‘Very’ album)
‘It’s A Sin’ (from 1987 ‘Actually’ album)
(encore)
‘West End Girls’ (from 1986 ‘Please’ album)
‘Being Boring’ (from 1990 ‘Behaviour’ album)

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