ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Live review – Pet Shop Boys at London’s Royal Opera House

Pet Shop Boys live at London’s Royal Opera House 23 July 2024

Rating: 5/5

Since they became the first electronic artists to play London’s Royal Opera House in 2016, Pet Shop Boys are now semi-regulars at the capital’s swankiest venue.

Bringing their Dreamworld performance to the home of opera feels like a coronation for their hits show: two years since it began – and four years since it was first announced pre-lockdown – Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have honed it to perfection, ready for it to bow out in Britain at Radio 2 In The Park in September.

The duo have explained how working with Stuart Price on distilling their 40 years into two hours, rearranging their hits into their sleekest, most crowd-friendly versions, was largely crafted in order to stop anyone from being, well, bored. Going to the bar during a show was not a Pet Shop Boys trait. Tennant might have joked earlier this year that fans still went to the bar during You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk, but it’s significant that it has since been dropped to help accommodate three song from Nonetheless.

In Dreams

The Dreamworld concert is now so perfectly achieved that it’s essentially become pop’s fully live version of ABBA’s Voyage, except that Tennant and Lowe put the hours in. They’re pretty relentless tourers these days and you can’t really moan you haven’t had chance to see Dreamworld by now.

It means it’s the hardcore fans who are at the Opera House: rather than the arenas and festivals which have generally hosted Dreamworld, the hall only holds 2,250 fans. The five-night run for Pet Shop Boys’ third Opera House residency is one for the connoisseurs, who just maybe felt the arenas held a few casual fans who only really knew half-a-dozen songs.

Certainly, Tuesday’s opening night was full of the truly committed. As with previous PSB x ROH concerts, there was no concession to changing up the show itself – pop music is as vital to the soul as opera, so we’ll be in charge for the duration, thanks.

A Well-Honed Performance

Given that the show was effectively a regular Dreamworld night in front of fans who’d almost certainly witnessed it before, it was a well-honed audience as much as a well-honed performance. Telling his regular tale about how Domino Dancing was written, Tennant interrupted it to admit: “These people down the front have seen this show about 50 times, they know this story.”

While there have been intimate Dreamworld shows in London at the Electric Ballroom, 229 and Koko clubs, none are quite so refined as the Opera House: it’s the perfect surroundings because, once you’re inside and past any preconceptions about what “opera” entails, the venue is a gorgeous theatre, perfect for the tale of A New Bohemia’s Petit Bonbons.

The intimacy allowed Dreamworld’s intricacies to come alive: how Lowe’s keyboard stabs in It’s A Sin are perfectly matched to the sun’s flares on the big screen; the way the pedestrians moving in the film for I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More perfectly sync with the song’s intro; the purple lights that cover the band in Love Comes Quickly shimmering just so in the mix.

Our heroes’ interaction is beautiful up close too, from Lowe being too absorbed in keeping New York City going to acknowledge Tennant when he joins the keyboard podium to Lowe holding the mic with surprising theatricality in his show-stealing Paninaro, the absolute tart.

The Best Pop Has To Offer

At this distance, you can really judge how live it is: is Tennant’s voice maybe a tiny bit hoarse in Rent’s first verse? If so, it only contrasts with how he too is now perfectly honed after so long as a road warrior. His grand gestures aren’t necessary here, but they still work. The second Tennant waves his arms in Where The Streets Have No Name, everyone else’s arms are immediately aloft.

The small stage means the dozen silver dancers in the euphoric final third barely fit on, in danger of bundling into each other, though they too are of course perfectly in sync.

The impact of other big gestures hit home with extra force. To an audience who know its significance, the film of a seemingly utopian San Francisco accompanying Go West is heartbreaking. The pre-encore roar from the audience isn’t so much “One more song!” as “We know which two songs are coming, and we’re absolutely going to lose our minds.” And we do.

At the end of Being Boring, Neil Tennant states: “After 40 years, we are still the Pet Shop Boys.” Goddam right. After 40 years, they’re still the best pop has to offer. As Vocal and It’s Alright had shown, this is what House music is all about.

Setlist

Suburbia
Can You Forgive Her?
Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)
Rent
I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More
So Hard
Left to My Own Devices
Single-Bilingual / Se a vida é (That’s The Way Life Is)
Domino Dancing
Dancing Star
New York City Boy
New Bohemia
Jealousy
Loneliness
Love Comes Quickly
Paninaro
Always on My Mind
Dreamland
Heart
What Have I Done to Deserve This?
It’s Alright
Vocal
Go West
It’s A Sin

Encore

West End Girls
Being Boring

For tickets and tour dates click here

Want more PSB? Order Classic Pop Presents: Pet Shop Boys Volume 2 here

Read More: Complete Guide To Pet Shop Boys albums