The Pet Shop Boys - Inner Sanctum
The Royal Opera House - July 20th 2016
I don't know quite where to begin with this crazy, incongruous night! On a really hot summer's evening in London I found myself doing the ultimate in Billy-No-Mates moments and taking out a small mortgage to buy myself a G&T at the amphitheatre bar of the Royal Opera House. I considered striking up a conversation with the guys beside me at the bar, but as they were hotly debating the exact release date (I mean exact) of every PSB single, I felt that my contribution of 'I really love It's a Sin' might not cut it.
The show began with two huge arses! I'm sorry, but am I the ONLY person who saw those giant orbs, lit in a peachy glow as two perfectly formed bottoms? Just me then. But the crowd went wild when Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe emerged in metal, lattice-work head gear from the revolving bottoms grabbed our hands and leapt
down the rabbit hole.
It was an extraordinary production, a dazzling light and sound fusion. The effervescent Neil Tennant with the pure and oh-so-distinctive vocals belying his age, incongruously matched with a mute Chris Lowe. It was a near seamless blending of old and new bound together by the pop kids anthem, without a hint of irony pop kids we were, we are and we always shall be.
I cannot tell a lie, there was a definite period from Dictator Decides which would have been my GTB period (go to bar) had I not been hemmed in by Stuart from Wolverhampton and two entirely giddy, gay, pop kids with their hands in the air like they don't care. The music was pure electronic dance and the light show so fantastical that the stage was obscured from the balcony, and this lyric driven dance happy girl was a bit lost (can I refer you back to 'I really love It's a Sin') But with Home & Dry, Neil returned me to the fold.
Everything from It's a Sin (Have I told you.....) was a giant party. Throwing vertigo to the wind we got to our feet and stayed there for the rest of the set with added copious amounts of cheesy pointing for Go West.
The Boys are brilliant, without doubt; clever and witty with a production that could take down the National Grid. They have serious gravitas, more Kraftwerk than Ross in Friends yet they are saved from pretentiousness from their sheer love of their distinctive brand of pop music and the absurdity of dancers in inflatable neon suits.
I went alone but left with an opera house of Besties. As a wise Swede once said to me 'You're never truly alone at a PSB gig.'
- (Live debut)
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(Live debut)
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(Live debut)
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(Live debut)
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(First time since 2010)
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(Live debut)
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(Live debut)
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(First time since 2012)
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(First time since 2007)
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(First time since 2007)
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(Village People cover)
- Encore:
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(Brenda Lee cover)
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(Reprise)
Wish I had gone now seeing this review , so how much was the G&T lol
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