Pet Shop Boys – MCMLXXXIX Tour – 1989

July 15th 1989 – Birmingham NEC

Ah, back to my favourite venue…not! Sound usually rubbish, view fairly poor, food and beer extortionate…..oh, and the NEC is a bit of a pig to get to from Leicester.

Needs must though, as bands like the Pet Shop Boys just didn’t bother with Leicester, so if we wanted to see them, we had to travel.

I didn’t seem to mind too much driving as it was the end of a working day and a gig was always something to look forward to.

The Pet Shop boys were made up of Neil Tennant (Vocals) and Chris Lowe (Keyboards). Neil was deputy editor of Smash Hits at the time, but had a thought that he had a winning formula. They sprung to fame after failing to chart with “Opportunities (lets make lots of money), which went on to be a classic, with the hit “West End Girls” in last 1985……this would be their first tour! after 3 studio albums.

There was always a worry that this concert could be a damp squid. They’d never really fancied touring, two blokes singing and keyboard, songs melodic but not massive dancing songs…….and the NEC! Strangely it all worked quite well.

The two guys had no stage presence at all, even though Neil dressed up in some wild and wonderful outfits, his stage movement was negligible and we had ended up with tickets towards the back, so the view was appalling.

It was a good concert, the music was tight and with dancers on stage the eyes were kept busy. The sound was actually pretty good, I don’t know if the NEC had updated their systems, but it was nowhere near as tinny warehouse as previous visits had been. The sound highlight was during “Paninaro” when the sound was made to pass through the speakers making it feel like it was swirling around you in a circular motion, very impressive.

A good concert, better than was expected really and really enjoyable tunes.

Set List

• One More Chance
• Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
• Left to My Own Devices
• Rent
• Heart
• Paninaro
• Love Comes Quickly
• Later Tonight
• Nothing Has Been Proved
• The Sound of the Atom Splitting
• It’s a Sin
• Shopping
• Domino Dancing
• Occupy Your Mind (Dusty Springfield cover)
• King’s Cross
• You Were Always on My Mind (Gwen McCrae cover)
• West End Girls
• It’s Alright (Sterling Void cover)