Desert Living Tip #1985: Pet Shop Boys Arizona State Fair Concert

Tonight marks the first-ever Arizona performance of the world's greatest pop music band ever. It's been 20 years since the Pet Shop Boys released West End Girls, and artists Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have been going strong ever since.

This year the Pet Shop Boys released Fundamental, and as a limited edition a second disc entitled Fundamentalism. This latest album has received exceptional reviews and has more of an overt political bent. From wikipedia:

Specific contemporary issues discussed in the lyrics include tensions and fears in the United States caused by the War on Terrorism, addressed in songs such as "Psychological" and "Luna Park". ("Luna Park" being the name of various amusement parks around the world; see Luna Park for a list of such places). Other songs refer to the politics of the band's home country; "Indefinite leave to remain" refers to an immigration status in the United Kingdom, while "Integral" criticizes the British national identity card plans. (A statement from a band spokesman cites the issue as the reason that Tennant ceased his well-publicized support of Tony Blair's Labour Party.) The lyrics are fully masked and converted to the hommage to the Yevgeny Zamyatin's legendary distopian book "We", in which the inhabitants of the future One State try to build The Integral in order to solve the cosmic equation and resolve all the problems in their One State. "I'm with Stupid", meanwhile, touches upon both countries by satirizing Blair's alliance with George W. Bush.

In typical ironic fashion, the sophisticated, British duo will perform free for the masses at the Arizona State Fair (reserve tickets close to the stage are available through Ticketmaster for $20). It will be interesting to see how well-matched the venue and potential audience will be. I am grateful to see British electro/dance/disco/pop coming to Phoenix.

Fun facts:

-The voice that announces the interval in the show tonight will be Sir Ian McKellen (aka Gandalf, Magneto, etc).

-Keyboardist Chris Lowe may not have much in common with tonight's typical state fair audience. Famously, Lowe once proclaimed, "I don't like country and western. I don't like rock music, I don't like rockabilly or rock and roll particularly. I don't like much, really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately."

-High-design: The duo have always been very interested in the artwork and design for their releases. They have primarily worked with Mark Farrow, who designed the cover of their first Parlophone release in 1985. The collaboration between Mark Farrow and Pet Shop Boys is comparable to the designer-band relationship of Peter Saville and New Order or Anton Corbijn and Depeche Mode.

-Party like Madonna: Recently InStyle Magazine asked Madonna for her holiday party playlist, the Pet Shop Boys topped the list. It didn't hurt that the boys remixed Madonna's recent "Sorry" single, adding new keyboard and backing vocal segments.

-The 10th "Doctor" in Dr. Who, is actor David McDonald who adopted the professional name "Tennant" — inspired by Neil Tennant, the lead singer of the Pet Shop Boys — because there was another David McDonald already on the books of the actors' union Equity.

Tags: phoenix, concert, music, pet shop boys