The English electronic pop duo known as Pet Shop Boys, begun over three decades ago, remain one most adored acts in popular music. Having sold over fifty million records worldwide over the years, 2013 brought fans the duo’s twelfth studio titled Electric. With their first studio album under their own label X2 released, the boys began the Electric World Tour in March 2013 with stops in South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia, and North America over a thirteen month period. On Saturday April 26th, the North American leg of the tour came to an epic close in New York City at Terminal 5 in front of a sold out crowd.
With 3,000 hungry new wave fans packing Terminal 5, there was a buzz mounting from the floor to the third tier in anticipation for Pet Shop Boys to take the stage. With the group playing across town at Beacon Theater seven months earlier, it was clear New York City wanted more, and more is what they received. Fans were greeted with an extremely visual stage setup including a large projection screen draped over the stage with green lights beaming off it. As the lights moved, the screen opened and turned into a tunnel, creating an illustration of a black hole, but vivid in a spectrum of changing colors as “Axis” played. With spectators’ eyes mesmerized, two black figures appeared which gradually became larger, and at this point the screen rose and Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe appeared. Tennant stood stage left as Lowe stage right and the set took off with “One More Chance” and “A Face Like That”.
The energy level was accelerated with numerous costume changes and a wide range of songs spanning over Pet Shop Boys career, including newer tunes and old classics like “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)”, “West End Girls”, “I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)”, “Rent”, and “It’s A Sin”. While to casual listeners their career is defined by their mainstream popularity in the 1980’s, Pet Shop Boys have produced some of the most potent electronic pop music over the past two decades as well. Showering their fans with new millennium songs such as “Fugitive”, “Intergral”, and “Love Etc.” kept the bass lines thick and the dance vibe moving. Even with little space in the jam packed venue, the audience danced their troubles away.
Tennant’s voice sounded as strong as ever as he soothed with the accented tone followers have grown to love. Lowe’s programming and synthetic melodies shined bright with clarity and tones that echoed through each level of Terminal 5. Both in high spirits, Tennant and Lowe interacted with the audience making eye contact, smiling, and stimulating emotional connections each turn they made. The evening started to wind down smoothly with the memorable “Domino Dancing” and hit cover song “Always On My Mind”. The audience cheered so loud the sounds could be heard down the halls of Terminal 5 into the streets of Manhattan. That is when both artists exited the stage only to re-appear with an encore of “Go West” and new song “Vocal”.
It is no wonder this dynamic electronic pop duo remain beloved and exciting all these years later. Their stage show is perhaps one of the most eye-gazing of any active performers out there today. Pet Shop Boys are a treasure to pop music and they closed out the North American leg of the Electric tour in the grandest fashion possible in New York City.
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