Pet Shop Boys @ Hammerstein Ballroom 9/2/09

I'm actually down there somewhere near the front. Off to the right of the stage.

Well, this will go down in history as one of the most fun shows I've been to. I saw PSB once before on their last tour. It was nice, but I don't remember having as much fun as this one. Probably because the last time, they were in a bigger place with seating. This was general admission (if you had a floor ticket.)

At first glance their stage set didn't seem too impressive. It wasn't anything like the picture above. See what happened was that wall was a lot smaller at the beginning of the show. It collapsed to reveal behind it an even bigger wall, which later it also collapsed. It was just wild, I thought. What do I know? I needed some cheering up and this was the ticket.

The boys really had a lot of fun up there and they had these 4 dancers who ran around the stage. At one point throwing those boxes at each other. Assembling boxes, tearing them down, building them up. I don't know. It was a love affair with all things square. They even covered their heads in boxes. Something maybe Leigh Bowery might have cooked up.

The songs? There's music too!! The opening number was "Heart" and Neil sounded great. Though his voice seemed heavily processed, at times sounding as though he was lip-syncing. But I'm sure he wasn't. A lot of the set contained medley types such as "Pandemonium" going into "Can You Forgive Her." At one point I heard the beginning to "Paninaro" and I thought wow, this is a personal favorite! - but ended up with "Go West" which I think was the best part of the show!!

A great moment for me was when they performed "2 / 0" which was the first song from their first album "Please." I always loved that song. It really took me back.

"Why Can't We Live Together" was pretty good too and I think this is the song where the dancers came out wearing New York City building costumes (Empire State, Chrysler, Citigroup).

I thought it was a well rounded selection of songs. I loved hearing them perform "Being Boring" and last but not least a cover version of that Coldplay song. You know the one. Neil just HAD to do it in a crown and purple cape. But it was cool. The backdrop video looked pretty cool too in all black and white, Neil walking the streets wearing the king costume holding an umbrella. The song did also incorporate "Domino Dancing" so it wasn't a complete cover from beginning to end. I think as long as they were doing that, the Village People Cover "Go West," the Willie Nelson Cover "Always On My Mind," (and it was great!) - They should have also done "Where The Streets Had No Name."

"It's a Sin" was performed and right at the end we were showered with tinsel. Nice touch.

Their new material blended pretty well with the older ones. I have no complaints with this show. I had a lot of fun. The visuals were great. The performance was excellent. Total win.

"West End Girls" Ended the show.

Picture above was stolen from Brooklyn Vegan. Please click on the link more excellent pictures of the show.