The Electric Tour was synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys' 2013–15 world tour in support of their two albums Elysium and Electric. The first leg started on 22 March[1] and ended in October in Mexico.[2] The second leg of the tour was announced in January 2014, starting at the Coachella festival in California in April. A third leg of the tour was announced in February 2015, starting at the Festival Contempopranea in Badajoz, Spain. Notably, the tour was announced on 5 December 2012 even before the announcement of Electric, the album bearing the same name with the tour.[3]
| Tour by Pet Shop Boys | |
 | |
| Location |
|
|---|---|
| Associated album | |
| Start date | 22 March 2013 |
| End date | 15 August 2015 |
| Legs | 2 |
| Pet Shop Boys concert chronology | |
Concept
editThe show consists of the band along with two dancers performing in front of a huge screen.
The screen often projects the silhouettes of band members Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe morphing into different colours or shapes according to each song, but it also projects other types of videos, such as visiting places of the world via Google Earth during "Somewhere".
The show starts with "Axis" and ends, on most dates, with "Vocal", which are respectively the opening and closing tracks of their Electric album.
The set list has some short interludes or extended instrumental parts to allow the band to go offstage, change costumes and come back. Those moments could also be considered as links between one act and another in the show.
The dancers always have their faces covered in some way. They appear for the first time during the interlude preceding "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing" and finish off on "Vocal", both times wearing big minotaur masks.
Reviews
editAlex Needham of The Guardian said of the Sydney shows, "Like a lot of their long career, the show walks a tightrope between pop and art, silliness and profundity. Much of it sees the Pet Shop Boys perform in extravangant outfits (fluorescent orange jackets; a disco ball which entirely covers Lowe’s head) in front of specially-made films ranging from Google Earth images for Somewhere to equations for Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)."[4]
Robert Collins of CTV British Columbia said of the Vancouver show, "... they comprehensively proved how ideas are at the heart of pop stardom."[5]
Setlist
edit- Axis (Intro)
- One More Chance / A Face Like That
- Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) (contains a sample from In The Night)
- Memory of the Future
- Fugitive
- Integral
- The Rite Of Spring (Interlude)
- I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing
- Suburbia
- I'm Not Scared
- Invisible (May–July shows) or Fluorescent (Added August)
- The Last to Die (replaced by West End Girls in August)
- Somewhere
- Leaving
- Thursday (feat. Example)
- Love Etc.
- I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too) / Rent
- Miracles
- It's a Sin
- Domino Dancing
- Go West
- Love Is a Bourgeois Construct (exceptionally in Santiago on May 13th instead of Go West)
- Always on My Mind
- West End Girls (May–August shows)
- Vocal
- Axis (Intro)
- One More Chance / A Face Like That
- Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money) (contains a sample from In The Night)
- Love Is a Bourgeois Construct (only on select dates)
- Fugitive
- Integral
- The Rite Of Spring (Interlude)
- I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing
- Suburbia
- I'm Not Scared
- Fluorescent
- West End Girls
- Somewhere
- Leaving
- Thursday (feat. Example)
- Love Etc.
- I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too) / Rent
- Miracles
- It's a Sin
- Domino Dancing
- Always on My Mind
- Being Boring (only on select dates)
- Go West
- Vocal / It's Alright
Tour dates
editReferences
edit- ^ "Pet Shop Boys March 2013 tour dates". petshopboys.co.uk. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ "Pet Shop Boys October 2013 tour dates". petshopboys.co.uk. 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ "New UK live dates announced – Pet Shop Boys – News". petshopboys.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- ^ "Pet Shop Boys review – tightrope walking between pop and art". TheGuardian.com. 8 June 2014.
- ^ "Review: Pet Shop Boys deliver art attack in Vancouver". 4 October 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Pet Shop Boys – Tour". petshopboys.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- ^ "Carriageworks". carriageworks.com.au. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- ^ "Uruguay – Pet Shop Boys – News". petshopboys.co.uk. Retrieved 29 July 2016.