Pet Shop Boys review by Doug Metropolis Montreal, Quebec Canada

So there we were... Fred (right at bottom of this review) and I (left at bottom of this review) had decided to take some time out from wandering up and down St. Catherine Street to take a photo of the marquis of Metropolis where the Pet Shop Boys were to perform. It was a cold Sunday afternoon; November 14th, 1999 to be exact, and we had travelled all the way from Massachusetts to see the Pet Shop Boys perform for the first time.

We met a girl who had driven to Montreal from Chambly (southeast of Montreal) to be first in line. We met a couple from Toronto, Tara and Earl... Tara could seemingly rattle off any bit of Pet Shob Boys trivia and she had seen them at other shows on the "Nightlife" tour...Well, me met these people around 2PM and Tara advised us to line up early for the show... Fred and I got lunch and then raced back to the hotel to retrieve our tickets. We were in line about half an hour later with Tara, Earl, Chambly girl and half a dozen other devoted fans. We waited since about 2:30 PM til 7 PM when the doors to the Metropolis opened, letting the crazed fans in...

I immediately went to the concession stand where I purchased two Tour t-shirts, and a program for both Fred and myself. Outside, prior to the doors opening, I had bought a "bootleg" t-shirt that had all incorrect tour dates on the back... a collector's item to be sure, as is the poster I peeled off the wall of Metropolis' exterior. I rejoined the group up by the front of the stage. I had sneaked my camera in to the show as well, so I was prepared to document as much of the performance as I could.

The lights went down and at around 8PM, images of the Pet Shop Boys' heads were projected onto a big white curtain covering the front of the stage. The heads were spinning around as the lead-off track of "Nightlife" blasted forth: "For Your Own Good". Then, the first problem of the night... as "West End Girls" started, the curtain was supposed to rise up... but it didn't... Halfway through the song, the stage crew just let the curtain fall from its supports and they started "West End Girls" all over again... On the stage was a giant white wooden monolith with a ramp attached to it's face. Neil Tennant walked slowly, royally down this ramp to the stage where Chris Lowe was standing behind a pair of keyboards. Both were wearing their "Nightlife" Gary Oldman - Amadeus wigs...

There were many costume changes, many dance routines and alot of great remixes of old favorites as well as tracks off the new album. Some of the highlights included: a posthumous duet between Neil and Dusty Springfield (projected on the white monolith) on "What Have I Done To Deserve This"... a rousing rendition of "Always on my Mind" and "Shameless"... A surprising choice of "Only the Wind" from the "Behaviour" album... Navy guy dancers for "Go West" and an incredibly powerful "New York City Boy".... One really big surprise was a pair of acoustic numbers: "You Only Say You Love Me When You're Drunk" and "Se A Vida A". After the second acoustic song, Neil flung his guitar pick into the audience... After some shuffling about, Fred found the pick on the floor! He was overwhelmed!

The show was simply the best concert I've ever been to. The crowd was even complimented by Neil at the end of the show... He said that this was the best audience they'd had on the North American tour. And because Montreal was the last date on the North Anerican tour, we knew we were in for something extra special from the boys... All night the audience had been very polite and responsive to the songs and it was an amazing rush to hear the songs being sung by the audience itself without prompting from the band... Definitely the best show I've ever been to! - Doug

return to the dsquared web site

Read about Doug going to see the PSB's in Boston, 2001!

check out the official Pet Shop Boys site: www.petshopboys.co.uk