Sunday, July 02, 2006

Pet Shop Boys LIVE

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So, it was off to the Liverpool Summer Pops for the only North-West date the Pet Shop Boys appear to have planned for 2006 (although a conversation with some foxy woman prior to the show lead me to believe that a "full" UK tour will return to these shores sometime after the US tour this fall.

The support act were Client. Who were alright, but not brilliant and were more memorable for the fact that the lead singer was the woman who used to be the lead singer for Dubstar. Who back in the day were one of my faves.

Anyway, enough of that and on with the main show. We had great seats (almost perfect seats for a Chris Lowe fan) and the atmosphere was definately good. The lights went down and the theme to Psycho swirled around the arena.

After a slew of look-a-likes had fooled most of the crowd (but not me - with my side on view I could see all the backstage shenanigans) the boys came out and, surprisingly, belted straight into Psychological. Now as a scene-setter for Fundamentalism, this track does it job; as a scene-setter for a concert it was less suitable. Still as soon as the next track, Left To My Own Devices, kicked in, all was forgiven.

From that point, the crowd were in the palm of their hands. With Fundamental being somewhat of a return to form this meant that even the new tracks were met with delight. I'm With Stupid baited Bush and Blair as ever, the twitching curtains that made up the backdrop to Suburbia were a touch of genius (even if I don't really like the song itself all that much) and a great version of Minimal was followed by the welcome return of Shopping to the PSB live set list.

A superb version of Rent was only marred by the fact that it was sung without Neil on stage (one can only presume technical malfunctions with the set) and then it was into the camp covers section of the show with the ever wonderful Always On My Mind followed by a somewhat muted Where The Streets Have No Name.

Then, as has become the custom these days, we were treated to the acoustic portion of the evening, this time with Home and Dry getting the honours. Unlike the Tower Of London gigs however, this was the only acoustic song of the night and then, probably because the BBC had sued the song in the Football coverage, we got Numb, which was well received.

Dreaming Of The Queen was another well received album track before the place came unglued for West End Girls. The party atmosphere continued for The Sodom And Gomorrah Show (as the boys playfully brought a real live drummer on the stage) and Opportunities, before the show ended with Integral.

Of course there was just enough time for the encore, ushered in with the David Morales mix of So Hard (great tune), which took in It's A Sin and, of course, Go West.

Whilst never threatening to live up to the pagentry of Performance, this was still one hell of a show. The set was understated, but functional and the boys themselves appeared to be having a great time. Neil even stated the crowd was superb. Chris even managed to crack a couple of smiles, and wave at me. Sure, it's not Heidi at the Apolo, but its good enough for me.

Few shows will see 20 years of classic pop hits crammed into them, and add in some bonuses for the more hard-core fan and you have, quite simply, a triumph. The Pet Shop Boys live shows have often been labelled as show over substance, but this concert proved that the Boys have substance to burn. You may think I'm biased but if there's been a consistenly better pop act of the past 20 years, I'd like to see them. Once again, this was a majestic triumph.

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