Watch the Pet Shop Boys perform ‘It’s A Sin’ live at the Royal Albert Hall

It was a great gig, sound fine in the upper stalls. I would have liked to see “Patience of a Saint ” from Electronic but it is hard to criticise when they have so many great songs l thought “indefinite leave to remain” was wonderful.
I think the argument was to do with people going in and out during the show which is my bugbear. When did we become a nation of people who can’t sit still for an hour? I saw Jean Michel Jarre at the o2 and it was constant going in and out

It was such a magnificent show – I do have a soft spot for their orchestral stuff, especially ‘This must be the place I waited years to leave’ and ‘It couldn’t happen here’ were incredibly moving.

I think no one has mentioned yet that Neil’s voice was in top-form, too, and free from any of the usual double-tracking-trickery that they use live of recently. His BBC Radio 2 performance was quite hit and miss in places, but impeccable here at the Royal Albert Hall!

Sound quality downstairs was fine too, sorry to hear about the upstairs areas…

Also, lovely to finally being able to thank you in person for this blog, Paul, even if it was briefly in the hallway. Tis blog is a daily read for me over here in Amsterdam and even though I hardly participate, I am nothing short of a FAN!

Was at the show in lower tier seats, enjoyed the night even though i don’t have intimate knowledge of the PSB back catalogue. There was an issue in one block of seats, evidently there were some people talking through the first part of the show which ended in some shouting during the interval.

The sound quality in the ‘upper’ seats was absolutely shockingly bad. As soon as it started, Left to my Own started, we all looked at each other with a ‘oh dear’ look. Was shockingly bad – trust me. It’s as though there were no speakers pointing at the circle and all we heard was echo from the stall seat speakers.

In part two, it improved somewhat – people had clearly had words – but it was really a disappointing first concert to take my children too. Even my eldest said “why does it sound so awful”.

Hopefully this link works, but there’s some other great footage of the night getting posted at the moment.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bnHI7KLQG_k

Update !
From Official site : Full details of reissues later this month.

The reissues will be out later in the year, plans are bring finalized. Their first 6 albums will also be reissued. And a complete box containing all their Parlophone albums will also be released.

Great video – thanks for sharing Paul.

As aside, do we have any update on the planned deluxe reissues for 2017? I thought some of these releases were imminent but heard nothing.

I also received my copy of the new PSB annually book the other day. Available via their website. Have not looked at the book in detail yet, but the bonus CD is great – particularly the Tuff City Kids remix of Undertow and the Stuart Price remix of Left to My Own Devices.

Annoyingly, these are not exclusive to the CD as are set for digital release in April.

It wasn’t as good as everyone makes out – the song choices were predictable, the pacing was erratic, the sound mix was a bit muddy, and some of the songs were not very good at all. “Hold On” should never have been written, let alone recorded, released, or performed live! Definitely a unique show though.

http://www.thefinalword.co.uk/content/view/1394/35/

maybe they thought the Super songs don’t lend them themselves well to orchestral arrangements. although IMO its far from their best work.

I was there too. 6 rows from the front. I hated the no pictures rule, but can understand why.

So glad they let you for the last couple though.

I think they missed a trick not playing Numb though.

Highlight was Jealousy for me.

Did Neil Tennant join Johnny Marr when he was playing his set?
I saw Johnny Marr at Hyde Park and he played ‘Getting Away With It’ as part of his set.

I was also there and it was a special night, there was no way I was going to miss this gig as it’s exactly the kind of thing I’ve wanted from them for years. The set list contains no surprises for me – when tickets went on sale Neil stated it would be a tweaked version of their Salford BBC concert from 2012 which was broadcast on Radio 2 (hence all the Elysium tracks), the rest of it was plundered from the BBC Radio Theatre concert from 2006 which makes up the Concrete album and Rent, Later Tonight and He Dreamed Of Machines were all part of the 2014 BBC prom. So everything was from existing arrangements but they are in the middle of a world tour consisting of entirely different material in a different style so that’s hardly surprising. Great, memorable night though, even though a fight almost broke out near me, never thought I’d see that at a PSB gig, especially one in such a prestigious venue and for a charity.

I just want to add that I also read that Guardian ‘Ten Of The Best’ article and it is fantastic.
Damn the no edit button

Gutted I missed this given everyone’s comment’s. I too have wondered/marvelled at their decades old commitment to It’s Alright, I do like the song but I would have rather they performed Being Boring. Not that I was there anyway of course lol.

Pleasantly surprised with the number of songs from Elysium. I love that album. Seems I shouldn’t expect a DVD or Blu-Ray release, but hope at least the audio gets a release.

Great concert. Could have done with a couple of more uptempo tracks but great they did a few rarely performed numbers. Enjoyed being in a box. Shame that’s not an option for every concert. Wonderful venue as well

A good chunk of the set list resembles the orchestral BBC concert they did a few years back.

I was there – a great performance! From all!!

Agree with the comments about the 2nd act. Bit indulgent but the opening 5 songs were as good as any gig I’ve been too.

Was that Juliet “Caught in the middle” Roberts on backing vocals?

Ooh, you had a *much* better seat than me. A bit jealous… Agree the whole night was just amazing.

As Super is electric only it would probably have been a bit of a stretch to knock up orchestral arrangements for songs off that specially for this event.

Really looking forward to the electric counterpart to this when I see them in September.

Surprised to see no Go West – usually a staple of their sets.

I saw them recently and the SUPER album tracks went down very well – Pop Kids is a great song, up with their classics IMHO.

Anyone know if this was recorded for a fire release?

Thanks for the video! To be honest Paul, whilst I thought the first act was one of the best concerts I’d ever had the privilege to see, I was a little disappointed with the second act. Thought they tried to be a bit too clever. Wouldn’t have missed “He Dreamed of Machines”, “For All Of Us” and “Requiem in Denim & Leopardskin” if they’d been replaced with “Numb”, “Integral” and “Closer to Heaven”. As for Johnny Marr, his contributions were outstanding. “This Must Be The Place I’ve Waited Years to Leave” never sounded better. But, where was “Getting Away With It”? Surely a missed opportunity?

Thanks for this! Did Johnny Marr play just this one song, or the entire set? He certainly didn’t have much to do on this particular song …

… big Johnny Marr fan here!

PSB were last week’s ’10 of the best’ on the Guardian website:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2017/mar/29/pet-shop-boys-10-of-the-best-neil-tennant-chris-lowe-pop#comments

I love that they really put together crowd-pleasing set-lists–a bit of the new, a helping of the classics, and some deep rarities. If I had the money and time, I would follow PSB like some people followed the Grateful Dead.

Great chatting with you. Hope you and mum enjoyed the concert. I was fifth row which was nice and loud enough to drown out the guy who was chatting to his partner :)

Where was Chris Lowe @It’s A Sin?

Third track of the set (and first with Johnny Marr on stage I think) was This Must Be The Place I Waited Years To Leave. Whole night was fantastic.

I think Super is a good record. But I’m fine with this set list. They have over 200 songs to pick from.. this was a nice selection.

It Couldn’t Happen Here was phenomenal with the orchestra backing them. Very happy with the choice of songs as they rarely play some of them on their tours.

Everything I ever do…

Every SuperDeluxeEdition entry I read..

Every expanded CD I buy..

Every ultra deluxe box set I leave…

Thanks Paul!

Great set list – nothing from (Not) Super.