San Francisco, CA, USA – October 12, 2022: Pet Shop Boys in concert at Chase Center (Jennie Book for Live4ever)
Pet Shop Boys and New Order were in San Francisco on October 12th.
Pet Shop Boys and New Order touring together on 2022’s The Unity Tour seems at first glance like an unusual pairing, until we remember that Neil Tennant and Bernard Sumner have a long history together, publicly beginning their alliance alongside Johnny Marr with the 1989 single Getting Away With It with their band Electronic.
33 years later, there’s no Johnny Marr touring with them, but stadium-filling DJ Paul Oakenfold has been warming the crowd before the headliners, spinning his legendary Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Robin and David Bowie remixes.
New Order’s line-up this tour includes Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris, Phil Cunningham and Tom Chapman, and their setlist is strong with songs representing many different albums including crowd favorite Blue Monday, and a closing encore of Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Pet Shop Boys had an almost flawless setlist, with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe plus backing band playing hit after hit with a couple of slightly deeper cuts (Can You Forgive Her?, Losing My Mind, Dreamland) plus perennial favorites Suburbia, It’s A Sin and West End Girls.
Domino Dancing was a surprise audience favorite – it never made it to the Top 10 Billboard charts in the US, but the crowd sang it like it was their own personal number one.
The Unity Tour was pandemic-postponed but well worth the wait, with everyone getting a three-for-one deal on this ticket of decades-spanning superstars.