Pet Shop Boys Community

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
October 27, 2006 Friday
Pet Shop Boys have 'em nearly dancing out the doors
By Kevin C. Johnson Post-Dispatch Pop Music Critic

Pet Shop Boys' St. Louis brethren have waited a couple of decades for the British duo to make its debut here, and Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe finally delivered with an eye-popping performance Tuesday night at the Pageant.

Forget that the third game of the World Series was going on at the same time elsewhere in town. Near the top of the show, Tennant promised an evening of electronic entertainment, and the synthesized dance-pop act delivered the goods with an over-the-top evening.

The Pet Shop Boys' sensory-overload show was a two-act extravaganza with dancers, a ton of colorful costumes and fluid staging. A group of gigantic, illuminated and transparent cubes were manipulated song-to-song into various set-ups by stagehands dressed in white laboratory uniforms, like the Oompa Loompas from the "Willy Wonka" movie.

Huge cutouts of Tennant's and Lowe's heads took center stage for "Always on My Mind," with the backing singers popping up from behind the cutouts wearing different outrageous headdresses. A dancing top hat was part of the routine as well. American/British flag imagery was incorporated into the Bush/Blair politically bashing "I'm With Stupid."

One break from the throbbing dance beats came during "Home and Dry," when Tennant sat on a chaise and played acoustic guitar. Another subdued, though different, emotion came with "Dreaming of the Queen," accompanied by grainy footage of Princess Diana's funeral procession.

New songs, including "Minimal" and "Numb" from the new "Fundamental" CD, found comfortable places among golden nuggets. And "Go West" sent fans home, practically dancing out the exit doors.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entert ... %22boys%22

Good write up there. Not sure about the Princess Di funeral procession footage...


StevePSB

The Salt Lake Tribune
November 2, 2006 Thursday
Seasoned Pet Shop Boys unleash polished melodies, political satire
By Amy Spencer

For 25 years, the Pet Shop Boys have been on a journey that includes everything from '80s pop stardom, composing soundtracks, theatrical stage performances and writing a musical.

The duo became a household name during the '80s thanks to radio hits, "West End girls," "It's a sin," and "What have I done to deserve this?" But their career didn't end with the '80s.

This year saw an explosion of synthesized melodies and political poetry in the Boy's latest album, "Fundamental." The British pair spent most of 2005 crafting their ninth album of original material to the synth standards that made them popular in the '80s.

In a telephone interview before their performance at the Chicago Theater, front man Neil Tennant said the album "is not some sort of '80s nostalgia trip," but the product of two people who "have a lot of creative energy."

In May, the first single, "I'm with Stupid," a catchy satirical love song based on the relationship between George Bush and Tony Blair, made its mark on the British charts.

"The only controversy we had [for the song] was when we did it on Top of the Pops," Tennant said of their performance on the BBC. "We had six dancers - three had Tony Blair masks and three had George Bush masks. The British local elections were happening, so they said we had to have political balance . . . we sent someone to a party shop and they got a Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton mask, so we had this motley collection of politicians."

The polished production on "Fundamental" is due to the Pet Shop Boys' reunion with the orchestral elements of Trevor Horn, who last produced their music in 1988 on the "Left to my own devices," single.

"We recorded 'Numb' with him and it worked out so well," Tennant said. "We thought it would be great to have a whole Trevor Horn album and have a more consistent sound rather than doing a multiproducer album. We really wanted to bring out the full potential of the songs, particularly the more epic songs, like 'The Sodom and Gomorrah Show.' "

The Pet Shop Boys are cognizant of their impact on rockers such as The Killers' Brandon Flowers and a handful of tribute bands, most notably the Swedish teen-girl cover-act West End Girls.

"I think we are underrated, particularly in America. America is the only territory where we get, particularly, get the '80s revival thing, because we were on the radio from 1986 to the end of 1988 and we had six hit singles right in a row and then they stopped playing us, for whatever reason."

But Tennant seems fine with that. "I think it's possible that we set out right from the beginning to create our own world . . . and that is what we are still doing. We did it through the second half of the '80s and through the '90s, and now whatever we call this decade."

Los Angeles Times
November 10, 2006 Friday
Pet Shop Boys bring out their political side;
A spirit of celebration permeates the Wiltern LG concert, which mixes songs from a new album with earlier hits.

By Richard Cromelin

Los Angeles had the luck Wednesday to host the first Pet Shop Boys concert of the post-Republican era, a bit of timing that gave the English duo's new song "I'm With Stupid" an extra kick.

An early high point of their set at the Wiltern LG, "Stupid" skewers British Prime Minister Tony Blair's attachment to President Bush, and its wryly scathing commentary ("Before we met / I thought like everybody did / You were just a moron") and instrumental flourishes assumed a celebratory edge in the wake of Tuesday's election results.

Though the Pet Shop Boys are one of pop's longest-running dance-music acts, celebration hasn't always been their priority. On their infrequent tours, singer Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe have tended to balance the euphoria of their pulsating electronic music with an undercurrent of melancholy that became even more pronounced in the era of AIDS.

On Wednesday (the first of two nights at the theater), they summoned that spirit only once, on "Dreaming of the Queen," which intertwines grief over the death of Princess Diana with a eulogy for a way of life.

"And there were no more lovers left alive," Tennant sang with his signature aching tone, holding his hat at his side as footage of Diana's funeral procession played behind him. "No one had survived.... And that's why love had died."

But maybe love is in the air again. That moment was a well-placed change of pace in an evening dominated by high-spirited music, clever staging and the tireless Tennant, exchanging his familiar distanced, deadpan pose for the ebullient manner of a circus ringmaster.

The show, divided into two hourlong sets, began with Tennant (in top hat and tails) and Lowe (yellow sweat shirt and cap) being shadowed by more limber versions of themselves in the form of identically clad dancers. Those dancers, three backup singers and a resourcefully utilized structure of fabric-covered cubes enhanced the music with plenty of visual diversion.

The songs from the new "Fundamental" album, especially the grand "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show," folded easily into the Pet Shop Boys' two-decade body of work. That means they're largely reworking their basic formula rather than moving to new musical horizons, but they're still able to keep it fresh.

The pacing was a little problematic, especially opening the second segment with the downbeat "Numb," accompanied by imagery of a Russian winter. But then they moved inevitably toward a show-stopping, crowd-pleasing series of hits, including "Always on My Mind," "Where the Streets Have No Name," "West End Girls" and, in the encore, "It's a Sin" and "Go West."

Even in the froth and glitter of these sweeping synth symphonies, the Pet Shop Boys remained keen and cynical social observers, but this time around, they seemed more interested in the booty than the brain.

http://www.calendarlive.com/music/cl-et ... c-features

I get the Times and what a Great Review, I was there for both nights in L.A. and for sure a different point of view from my biased opinion.

I love these lines

"froth and glitter of these sweeping synth symphonies"

and

"the tireless Tennant, exchanging his familiar distanced, deadpan pose for the ebullient manner of a circus ringmaster."

Thanks for posting!

Great LA Times review. Always good to see them getting recognized in the local papers.