Pet Shop Boys, Manchester Arena. 20th May 2022.

If you’re more used to me reviewing post punk, indie and odd electro, Pet Shop Boys may seem like a guilty pleasure. NO! There’s no such thing as a guilty pleasure. If you like it, own it and I LOVE Pet Shop Boys!! This however, is the first time I’ve seen them live. It’s been a long time coming. Even longer due to the lockdown. We’re almost exactly two years on from the date on the ticket, but this is going to be worth the wait, I hope. They start with ‘Surburbia’ and it sounds wonderful. This is a greatest hits set, the Dreamworld Tour and it’s exactly what I’m after. However we’re in Manchester Arena and it’s one of those gigs where they’ve once again covered the floor space with seating. The view is shit! Everyone is stood up, so the chairs are nothing more than a fire hazard. Wake up, this doesn’t work! If we weren’t penned in I could escape nearer the front and away from the overly enthusiastic woman stood next to me taking selfies. I was trying to be nice for a second, but her and her mate are pissed and REALLY FUCKING ANNOYING!! Rant over, the set looks great, minimal, with two streetlight props and Chris’ perch to hide behind. The video projections are great too and thankfully the stage is flanked with video relay to compensate for the shit view. Neil and Chris come out in white trench-coats and metallic headwear. Neil ditches his mask as they go into ‘Opportunities’, he sounds fantastic and thankfully just about drowns out the singing next door. ‘Rent’ is awesome too and as ‘So Hard’ comes to a close, the stage morphs from austere street scene to disco for ‘Left To My Own Devices’. I wish it was one great song after another, but I’ll be honest it’s not. We have to endure the awful cover of U2’s ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ and ‘Single-Bilingual’ with Neil dressed as a thunderbird. I’d forgotten how good ‘Domino Dancing’ sounds but for every great song, there’s another that falls flat. Even ‘Jealousy’ that I usually like, seems to plod in this set. The woman in front of me likes it though and turns around to give my cackling neighbours the evil eye. It’s bad news when this is what I’m writing about rather than what’s happening on stage. ‘Love Comes Quickly’ raises my spirits, these songs are classics if you grew up in the 80s, but I’ll be brutally honest, despite them sounding great and the performance being good, it just feels a bit soulless in here. Even the double whammy of ‘Heart’ and ‘It’s Alright’ doesn’t help much. I can’t fault the production. I’m not sure what would make it better. Aside getting rid of the damn chairs, that might help generate a bit of atmosphere if everyone weren’t penned in. People want to move around, especially at a gig like this. I’m clearly a bit frustrated, so we’ll ignore ‘Go West’ and skip to ‘It’s A Sin’. It sounds huge but I can’t help a chuckle to myself, as I muse that it’s a good job I’ve nothing sharp in my pocket to stab miss obnoxious “father forgive me, I tried not to do it”. The encore kicks off with ‘West End Girls’ where mercifully my nemesis fucks off to the toilet, it’s THE BEST part of the night. They finish with ‘Being Boring’ dedicated to “everyone we’ve lost”, it’s lovely but a bit of a low way to end a set. I still love the Pet Shop Boys, but I hate arenas and hate inconsiderate people.