Pet Shop Boys have kicked off their ‘Obscure’ intimate live shows in London, and broke out some deep cuts and rarities for the first time. Check out footage and the setlist below.
The NME Godlike Genius alumni announced last year that they would be playing five shows at London’s Electric Ballroom in the spring, which would see them perform a setlist featuring only non-single album tracks and B-sides.
Entitled ‘Obscure Pet Shop Boys’, the shows kicked off last night (Monday April 6), and saw them play multiple songs live for the first time ever, as well as break out some deep-cuts for the first time in over 20 years.
Opening the show, they played ‘Will-O-The-Wisp’ – the opening track on their 2020 studio album, ‘Hotspot’ – for the first time, before breaking out the first live performance of ‘Two Divided by Zero’ – the opening track of their 1986 debut album ‘Please’ – since 2012.
More songs played live for the first time included 1986’s ‘Jack The Lad’, 2012’s ‘After The Event’, 1996’s ‘Hit And Miss’, 2002’s ‘Always’, 2020’s ‘New Boy’, 2009’s ‘King Of Rome’, 2024’s ‘Love Is The Law’, 2006’s ‘The Performance Of My Life’, and ‘A Dream of a Better Tomorrow’. The latter is an unreleased track from their musical, Naked, and before playing it on the night, Neil Tennant told the audience that it would be “one you’ve never heard before”.
Other songs that made the setlist included the first performances of ‘To Face The Truth’ and ‘One in a Million / Mr. Vain’ since 1994, the first performance of ‘Your Funny Uncle’ since 1991, and ‘The Theatre’ making its way onto the setlist for the first time since 1997. For that, Sylvia Mason-James joined as a special guest.
“We’re playing B-sides, album tracks… which are, what we call ‘fan favourites’,” the singer said towards the start of the gig, telling the crowd that they would not be breaking out any of their biggest hits this time around. “This song has never been played live… and its from 1986!” he said, introducing ‘Jack The Lad’.
Check out more footage below, as well as the complete setlist.
Pet Shop Boys’ setlist was:
‘Will‐o‐the‐wisp’ (Live debut)
‘Two Divided by Zero’ (First time since 2012)
‘Jack the Lad’ (Live debut)
‘To Face the Truth’ (First time since 1994)
‘After the Event’ (Live debut)
‘Hit and Miss’ (Live debut)
‘Always’ (Live debut)
‘Do I Have To?’ (First time since 2012)
‘Sexy Northerner’ (First time since 2004)
‘Young Offender’ (First time since 2000)
‘Happiness Is an Option’ (with Sylvia Mason‐James) (First time since 2000)
‘The Theatre’ (with Sylvia Mason‐James) (First time since 1997)
‘One in a Million / Mr. Vain’ (with Sylvia Mason‐James) (First time since 1994)
‘New Boy’ (Live debut)
‘King of Rome’ (Live debut)
‘King’s Cross’ (First time since 2012)
‘Love Is the Law’ (Live debut)
‘Why Don’t We Live Together?’ (First time since 2012)
‘The Performance of My Life’ (Live debut)
Encore:
‘Your Funny Uncle’ (Acoustic; Neil solo on piano; first time since 1991)
‘The Way It Used to Be’ (First time since 2010)
‘Later Tonight’ (First time since 2017)
‘A Dream of a Better Tomorrow’ (Live debut, unreleased track from their musical Naked)
Shows continue tonight (Tuesday April 7) through to Friday (April 10). Tomorrow’s gig will also be a benefit concert in aid of War Child.
Pet Shop Boys released their 15th and latest studio album, ‘Nonetheless’, in April 2024. In a four-star review, NME hailed the project as “the sublime sound of pop’s standard-bearers continuing to hone their craft”.
The band’s Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe then spoke to NME about how the LP was their “queer album” and later released a remix album, ‘Disco 5’, featuring Noel Gallagher, Sleaford Mods, Paul Weller and Primal Scream.
The electro pioneers also joined Paul McCartney, Sam Fender, Kate Bush and more in contributing silent tracks to an album designed to protest AI, and have been confirmed as having joined Russell T Davies to adapt It’s A Sin for a dance production in Manchester.
