Pet Shop Boys at the first night of four sold-out shows at London’s Royal Opera House on July 20, 2016. (Photo by Ken McKay)
The ever-fabulous Pet Shop Boys have been feeling particularly creative lately, releasing a series of very very good albums.
Neal Tennant and Chris Lowe always have been somewhat restless musicians, setting high marks for their disco-oriented synthpop. Their recent work with producer Stuart Price, pop king of modern disco producers, really has raised the bar, however, particularly with their latest and 13th album Super, published in April via their own x2 label.
Pet Shop Boys launched a US tour in support of the new album in Las Vegas last month, and the tour arrives in DC on Friday, Nov. 11 in a sold-out show at the Warner Theatre. (Resale tickets are available for DC, and a few tickets remain for surrounding dates in New Jersey, New York, and elsewhere.)
Like the very best of the Pet Shop Boys’ catalog, Super is stuffed full of cheeky observations on society as well as substantive ruminations on who we are — all set to extremely appealing disco and house beats. Super opens with the outstanding “Happiness,” an addictive house composition that carries a great deal of weight with its minimalism without at all leaving us empty.
“Twenty-something” is one of those tracks full of cheeky observations, assessing the cockiness of youth. The lyrics of the song are offset by a cinematic video that depicts an unfortunate young man in San Diego caught in an unforgiving cycle of life as a criminal.
Watch the official music video for “Twenty-something” by the Pet Shop Boys on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KCVmOQ1q6Y]
The new PSB songs sit very well beside older numbers while seeming like a sharpening of the vision displayed on some of the duo’s ’90s material like the Nightlife album, while improving upon it immensely.
Parklife DC is so excited about this show, that we dedicated our monthly new wave party, Careless Memories (which happens second Thursdays at Dodge City!) to the inimitable Pet Shop Boys. This is going to be a great show.
The show is sold out, but resale tickets may be available!
Pet Shop Boys
Warner Theater
Friday, Nov. 11.
Show @8pm
Sold out
All ages