Pet Show Boys review NIA Birmingham

Dec 21 2009 by Adrian Caffery, Birmingham Mail

The Pet Shop Boys

NIA

IT WAS the Friday before Christmas and who better to get the party season started than disco veterans Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe?

But I couldn’t help thinking that the clientele of the many clubs in nearby Broad Street were having a much jollier time than the 5,000 or so at the NIA.

This show, dubbed Pandemonium after one of the many excellent tracks on new album Yes, failed to live up to the high standards Neil and Chris have set themselves over 25 years of hit-making.

The theatricals lacked the humour and imagination of the last tour, Cubism, while the absence of soul singer and Pet Shop Boys stalwart Sylvia Mason-James was sorely felt.

There were some surprisingly lacklustre arrangements and the setlist wasn’t particularly crowd-pleasing.

VERDICT: HHIII

ADRIAN CAFFERY