Pet Shop Boys – Pandemonium

Should have been released as a bluray. This really is the best recent PSB concert filmed (putting aside their second tour which spawned the 'Performance' DVD which is a classic show...). Maybe one day....

A Pandemonium of emotions.
When the Pet announced their Pandemonium Tour, I read in more than one place that they had plans to cover at least one country in Central America. I was invaded with illusions thinking that they would cover Costa Rica, as it is the country with the best platform to their act. However, my partner’s plans and mine were to attend the tour in any country of the region, unfortunately they did not include the area on their Latin American leg of the tour. Around January this year, I was hoping they would release the DVD when the news came out on their webpage: Pandemonium was to be released first in Europe and almost one month later in America. The day it was available in my country, my partner and I drove one hour to the record store and back, in one of the most memorable days of music amusement in our lives.

Even though the track list of Cubism is more impacting than the Pandemonium, this last offers incredible surprises. The stage montage, the concept of the show, the dancers and the visuals used on stage are simply awesome and the coordination of these elements is outstanding. When we started watching the show, we realized once more how strong Pet Shop Boys are right now, after a carrier of more than 25 years, they are still part of the elite.

In a combination of classics and new songs such as “Heart” and “Did You See Me Coming” (number 1 in my country almost one year after its release), the first part of the show invites everyone to dance. This invitation takes a retro turn when the Pet perform a marvelous set with a taste of the 80’s dance club tunes, including two songs form their first album “Please”: “Two Divided by Zero” and “Why Don’t We Live Together”, and the biggest surprise of the show is definitely in the middle of this last song: inspired by Madonna’s “Dress You Up” choreography of “The Virgin Tour”, Chris comes out from behind his keyboard, and in the middle of thousands of fans astonished by the unusual practice, he s the dancers in the middle of the stage in a glorious ten seconds dance. I found myself shouting in my living room because of this and I had to replay it immediately: being Chris so quite and shy, I realized that it is not only me, but millions of fans around the world, that feel real appreciation and love for him. He doesn’t take the stage since the 1995 tour “Discovery”, but millions of fans would love to see him doing it more often. To close this session of the concert, the Boys perform the anthems “New York City Boy”, “Always On My Mind” and a mix of “Closer To Heaven” and “Left To My Own Devices” which is a regular on the track list of their previous tours.

At this point, a “nice for a change” comes up and the Boys delight the audience with a soft set made up by the B-Side “Do I Have To?” (it’s Melancholic Mix is just great), colored by pieces of “We All Feel Better In The Dark” (another awesome B-Side), the “Yes” cut “King’s Cross”, “The Way It Used To Be” and “Jealousy”.
More retro feelings come up later with songs like “Suburbia” and “Se A Vida E” among others, but before the performance ends with the iconic “West End Girls”, we enjoy a marvelous rendition of “Being Boring”.

The extras are a huge attractive of the album, since they include the three videos of the “Yes” alum, and the memorable performance at the Britt Awards.

This is definitely a must have that shows how the Pet Shop Boys are back for good, wish I could have seen it live, but maybe someday…