And so last night we went to see the
Pet Shop Boys in Manchester, at the Apollo theatre. This was one of two gigs planned in the UK on the
Pandemonium tour celebrating their Brits Lifetime Achievement award together with the release of their latest album
Yes.
I don't mind the Apollo as a venue. The sound is usually pretty good (I've seen a few acts there including
Kraftwerk and
The B-52s), there's a reasonable pub next to where everyone queues, there's designated areas for aisles, and the loos are kept clean. We were standing down near the stage, probably about 3 or 4 rows back (principally thanks to Mel pushing her way through - an expert in this I think, I'm probably just too polite to try that).
The support act was
Frankmusik: I'd never even heard of this guy but wasn't impressed. The sound production was
horrendous, too bass-heavy and you couldn't really hear any of the keyboard. I suspect it would have been OK-ish if it'd been produced properly yet when I nipped to the loo halfway through the act the gents was full of blokes saying 'this is rotten, wish I'd stayed in the pub'.
The stage itself was, er, minimal. Or at least it looked so - two stacks of white carton boxes, and a little kitchenette-style place for Chris Lowe to stand with his synthesisers. Over the top peeked an Apple studio display, a Moog Voyager and a couple of drum-pad triggers. At the other end of the stage could be glimpsed another keyboard and a trumpet; roadies dressed in white lab coats and white hard-hats milled around occasionally.
And so onto the
Pet Shop Boys. The lights dim, two dancers appear, Neil and Chris come out from behind the white cartons wearing coloured boxes on their heads and we're into a bass-heavy remix of
What Have I Done To Deserve This?. So far, so typically PSB!
The set list featured the entire range of hits, medleys of soundbites (sometimes odd little bits which were only noticeable by the hardcore fans), some surprises (
Two Divided By Zero from the
Please album,
Do I Have To? which was the B-side of the original
Always On My Mind 7" single). An interesting addition was the introduction to
...Zero which directly sampled
Kraftwerk's remix track
Numbers (latterly from
The Mix). In any case, it was a haphazard mix of elements of almost everything they've done, a luxury of having a massive back catalogue - and it worked brilliantly.
The minimal staging didn't last long. During the course of
Building A Wall the cartons cascaded down ad-hoc to reveal an even larger back wall, and cartons all over the stage giving the impression of a huge rubble stack. Wow. Chris Lowe's 'kitchenette' lit up in something akin to an up-ended disco dancefloor (or perhaps a massive Rubik's Cube).
One common element of PSB gigs is the dancers, and these didn't disappoint: muscular supple accompaniments to each song, with
Jealousy and
Go West in particular standing out. The white cartons were used for building, throwing, climbing... everything really, all while projections cast video over the scenes. Costume changes every few songs, silver heart-balloons, and two huge glitter-cannons showering the audience towards the end of
It's A Sin (we were picking glitter-strips out of each other's hair and clothes all the way back to the car).
So what didn't happen? Notable by their absence were
Where The Streets Have No Name and
Paninaro (although the introductory timpani was used to introduce
Go West - Chris playing drum pads to trigger all sorts of samples as opposed to just having the keyboard and screen as on past tours). Neil's flambuoyant outfits complemented the scenes (how the heck he switches so fast is a mystery to me), and although Chris came out to join the dancers for a short time, he didn't sing or say anything - not even miked up this time. So no
Paninaro.
It was truly an excellent gig, one of the most enjoyable. The only downside was the badly produced bass which spoiled
Being Boring for me, although really that hasn't stopped me booking tickets already for the gig at the MEN Arena on 20th December. See you there.
