GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THREE
Who
My logic was that if doors opened at 6pm and "New Order" were supporting then I didn't want to miss a thing. Annoyingly this effort wasn't necessary as we found out at the last minute that show times were published online and Bad Lieutenant wouldn't be taking to the stage until 7:45pm. This can only be a shameless attempt to pack the crowds in early so we buy their over-priced drinks but we decided to use the time to go for a pleasant Chinese meal and not to buy a thing from the venue to get our own back! It was an incredibly cold day but the worst of the weather had in fact bypassed the West Midlands and remarkably our train was running on time. Going home then out again is always a chore but short of staying in a hotel it's the best way for me to pull a gig off nowadays. In fact Birmingham looked rather nice as the German market was in full swing and the city was nicely lit up, the buildings actually looking like a proper second city should! My Chinese meal was duck in a bird's nest (i.e. hard shaped potato slices) with a small Coke and was excellent, and it was rather nifty to so easily find a table on the last Friday before Christmas. I still needed a map to find the NIA though. We picked up our tickets from the box office without any fuss and they didn't even ask to see my debit card. My bank had annoyingly sent out a replacement card with a useless new feature so for several months I'd had to keep my old card just in case it was needed for this show!
We were given wristbands on the way in (but still got to keep our tickets!) and the fast food inside was expensive but at least there was fast food! We quickly headed downstairs and the room was disappointingly quiet. It was probably around 7:15pm and we had no problems finding a spot to sit down reasonably close to the front. I also swear that the seats at the back were far closer to the stage than they had been for the Lips, but it's also possible that the stage is moved to handle the volume of tickets sold. It was a rarity of a show as we had a great view with no big heads ruining it or any pushing past taking place! The back of the stage had been curtained off so I guessed something cool was behind it. The room did fill up but seemingly never to capacity and I wondered if it was due to people being lightweights and being put off by the cold or if not enough people had had the taste to buy tickets? The crowd were mostly male with some older faces and wasn't in the slightest bit camp, demonstrating that the band appeal mostly to those who enjoy great music. Bad Lieutenant then took to the stage a few minutes early with two unknown songs. My research indicates they are Phil Cunningham of New Order plus half of Joy Division (i.e. Bernard Sumner and Stephen Morris), although the drummer didn't look old enough to me to be an original! Bernard was wearing a distinctly "dress-down" top and didn't look like much of a rock star or make too much effort. He also shared the singing with one of the other guys despite taking centre-stage and the sound quality was a bit disappointing throughout. Excitement levels picked up thanks to Bizarre Love Triangle where Bernard starting roaming the stage with his mic and the ante was upped further with the long but amazing Crystal. The classics were interspersed with Bad Lieutenant songs and you certainly can't begrudge them that. In fact we were grateful they played old stuff as they certainly weren't obliged to!
Temptation was even longer and more incredible, even if I did think for some reason that it was Ceremony. Bernard also teased the Pet Shop Boys for having performed on Alan Titchmarsh and the band had done enough to win us over before announcing that they were going to close with Love Will Tear Us Apart! I'd expected Transmission so this was a wonderful shock and was greeted by perhaps the biggest cheer of the night. Bernard did a great job replicating Ian Curtis's vocals and the crowd loved it. I immediately proclaimed it the song of the evening and felt I'd now had my money's worth and some people even left, either for the bar or the exit! Even my brother had known several of the old songs and it had been the best possible support, although the poor sound and Bernard's lazy dress sense had made them harder to enjoy! Work then turned to setting up the stage for the Pet Shop Boys and two guys climbed up flimsy ladders to the lighting rigs then reeled the ladders in, and in fact they spent the rest of the show up there! The screen was dropped to reveal two walls of blocks which was a great sign of what was to come. It was obvious (but at the same time too amazing to actually expect) when the lights went down and the blocks opened up and the Pet Shop Boys appeared to a roar of approval, wearing blocks over their heads themselves! I'd expected a mediocre opening tune so was delighted by the choice of Heart and they performed the whole thing with the boxes on their heads. The sound mix was poor as Neil's singing was far too loud but it did improve a bit as the night went on. The coolest thing was that two girls wearing full box suits were manning a keyboard and played occasional notes in perfect time and synchronised their movements to sing some parts, yet spent most of the first few songs standing stock still!
Furthermore, cameramen dressed as lab scientists were filming the whole show and their footage was projected onto the two side video screens (which were outside our field of view) and various cool images were projected onto the blocks, including at one point a game of Tetris! Obviously a huge amount of planning and choreography had gone into creating this show and it was a joy to behold. The band wandered offstage to change costumes so seamlessly you barely noticed their absence and Neil quickly abandoned his head-box for a top hat/sunglasses and more conventional clothes! After an unknown song we enjoyed a brief snippet of Can You Forgive Her? as the box-headed girls played trumpets in perfect time. Love Etc. then moved proceedings up a notch before a song actually called Building A Wall coincided with the knocking down of the wall to reveal an even larger wall behind it extending all the way to the top of the stage! The two box-headed girls had been joined by two more dancers (one male, one female) who rearranged the fallen boxes to meet the needs of the show. Go West was deliriously exciting as the dancers jumped up and down on some of the fallen boxes and a full stage-sized video projection was utilised. The only downer around here was the discomfort I felt thanks to the silly bint standing next to me. She stood so close it was almost painful (at least if you're pushing against people you can move around a bit) and spent the whole show standing still and not singing or clapping or anything! Just when you thought all the tricks were out of the bag the band played Two Divided By Zero after projecting some cool lights onto Chris's keyboard stand. He also changed into his brilliant "glass shard" coat which had been showcased on Alan Titchmarsh and it is fantastic how he never says a word, especially when the video screen shows the band and Neil is singing and he just stands there!
The ante was then upped even further with Why Don't We Live Together? when the dancers changed into skyscraper costumes and danced around and I wondered how Neil could keep a straight face throughout all of this absurdity? At the end Chris came out from behind his keyboards to join the buildings in a short dance to huge cheers and it's just a shame that watching the band do the same trick for T In The Park on TV had spoiled the surprise! Always On My Mind was the second number one hit of the evening (four in total!) and the dancers now all had changed back into box-head costumes and moshed in perfect sync in the background. It made me think that surely this was the greatest cover version of all time but, after compiling a list for the Random Lists section of this site, I realised it wasn't quite that good, but it still made me appreciate it more! I've always liked Left To My Own Devices and it was the one tune I'd especially learned to love more thanks to watching T In The Park and seeing how the box-heads sing the backing vocals. It would have been perfect but it's Neil's singing which makes the song and the sound quality wasn't as good as it should have been here! Sadly these classic moments were intermingled with too many new/unknown songs and, despite the awesome antics of the dancers and the general visual feast, at this point they played a few too many newbies! The show got firmly back on track with a stunning rendition of Jealousy as two of the dancers (the guy and the girl who had first appeared a few tracks in) engaged in a compelling boy-meets-girl/jealousy storyline. Now in the centre of the stage some of the boxes had been converted into steps and they repeatedly climbed up them and engaged in some terrifying/dangerous acrobatics and a mock fight. Neil had at this moment changed into a super-smart suit and had abandoned the headgear/sunglasses and you wonder how he'd managed this change so fast, especially as a few moments before he'd climbed the box steps to sing above us!
At around this point the second row of blocks were "toppled" but it would have been insane to have done this properly so most were left suspended on strings for the remainder of the evening. Suburbia was greeted with a huge cheer and is an all-time classic then What Have I Done To Deserve This? was delivered as a Dusty Springfield tribute as she joined in via a huge projection on the wall and all the dancers/band stopped to gaze in admiration. The two remaining box-headed girls then finally took to centre-stage to take off their heads to amazingly reveal identical twins, which certainly helps explain how they could keep such good time with each other! What I would like to know though was how they could keep their hair so perfect despite wearing boxes on their heads for the previous hour? I'd hoped for Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) but for some reason figured they wouldn't bother with it so it was a delight to hear such an uplifting rendition before a medley which took in snippets of Discoteca, Domino Dancing and even Viva La Vida by Coldplay! Excitement levels were raised again thanks to It's A Sin which featured an explosion of glitter stars at the end and this classic was a nice way of closing out the main set. I gathered what I thought were loads of glitter stars but turned out to be just two and we eagerly awaited the return of the band to the stage. They obliged with another costume change into their silliest hats yet (Chris had earlier taken off his glass shard coat with appropriate reverence/care) and a rendition of Being Boring which, perhaps to prove a point, was rather boring! Neil then announced they'd be treating us to a cover version and I was delighted to hear My Girl by Madness, knowing I'd heard the real thing just days before. The Pet Shop Boys version was very nice and they certainly have a knack for turning a song into their own while not ruining the energy of the original.
The encore finished with the tune which I'd wanted, namely West End Girls. At first I didn't recognise it and the dancers had changed into businessmen suits but we roared with approval as it burst into life. By now we were keeping a close eye on the time as my brother had thrown a strop at the idea of catching a taxi, in fact very selfishly saying he'd leave me to catch it by myself rather than splitting the fare 50-50. However West End Girls was the finale I wanted so we decided to head for the exit. Annoyingly the band then returned to the stage to perform a Christmas song, namely It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas. This had taken security by surprise and they quickly slammed the doors leading straight outside shut leaving us to walk the long way round. In fact we could have stayed without getting caught in the crowds as it was only a one song encore and apparently the dancers were dressed as Christmas trees but I knew it would have been annoying if they'd then played another classic. I really must avoid these Birmingham gigs to bypass this dilemma altogether, which was especially unforgivable as doors had opened at 6pm! We had no problems catching the last train home which was busier than usual as it was Friday night and I was so tired I went straight to bed, not preparing any draft of this review whatsoever until the next day. It does make me worry I've forgotten some hilarious moments but judging by the length of this review there was plenty I've found to talk about. Pet Shop Boys could have played Rent, Before, Where The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You), Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money) and Single-Bilingual but they'd played all the very biggest hits and found room for lots of unknown tracks and in a fairly short set so it's hard to complain too much. Nevertheless, I can't believe they didn't play I'm With Stupid! It was an excellent night and I was disappointed/shocked to read a bad review in the Metro! Apparently the reviewer had seen them play a much better show for their last album which I find impossible to believe. I strongly considered this gig for a 9.5/10 or even 10/10 review but the mediocre sound quality and excess of unknown songs took the shine off proceedings slightly. Watching it all again on the Pandemonium DVD a few months later though reminded me of just how good and well constructed the set was! Nevertheless, after a 13-year wait, the Pet Shop Boys did not disappoint!
Mark: 9.0/10
Pet Shop Boys
Support
Bad Lieutenant
Where
Birmingham NIA
When
18th December 2009
Price
£33.00
Who with
Alex
Position
Towards the front
Comments
I've liked Pet Shop Boys on and off since 1996 thanks initially to Before, Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is) and Single-Bilingual, so this gig was well overdue to say the least! In fact after 1996 I'd mostly lost interest excepting Adam And Joe's awesome Se A Vida É joke cover with R2 D2 and C3P0 and occasional viewings of a video compilation I have. The 10/10 review the NME gave to their Pop/Art greatest hits package was surprisingly the catalyst which made me buy it and get back into them and its sheer quality is breathtaking, making a mockery of compilations which throw a handful of good tunes at the start then quickly run out of steam! Their unbelievable Brit Awards 2009 medley strengthened my determination to see them live and their T In The Park performance with dancing buildings and box-headed dancers made me more excited, hence when tickets went on sale in July my brother and I snapped them up! I then listened to their greatest hits plus a few live songs repeatedly to enhance my appreciation of them, plus upon learning that Bad Lieutenant were supporting and apparently playing some New Order/Joy Division classics I swotted up on their music too. The so-called courier ticket delivery I'd requested came to nothing as they either didn't knock or tried to deliver tickets during a ten minute period when I briefly left the house to visit the post box (ironically). This left me with no option but picking up the tickets on the day. I also enjoyed watching the band do a bizarre performance of their Christmas songs and a short interview on the Alan Titchmarsh show and in the week of the gig I went to great lengths to leave work early, in the end having to practically walk out of a meeting with my MD to catch the train!
Setlist
More Than A Dream/Heart
Did You See Me Coming?
Can You Forgive Her?/Pandemonium
Love Etc.
Building A Wall
Go West
Two Divided By Zero
Why Don't We Live Together?
New York City Boy
Always On My Mind
Closer To Heaven
Left To My Own Devices
Do I Have To?
Kings Cross
The Way It Used To Be
Jealousy
Suburbia
What Have I Done To Deserve This?
All Over The World
Se A Vida É (That's The Way Life Is)
Discoteca/Viva La Vida/Domino Dancing
It's A Sin
Being Boring
My Girl
West End Girls
It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas
n.b. This setlist was from another gig, but it's either correct or similar
