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| Pet Shop Boys on stage in Rome |
After over a hundred dates in 45 countries British synthpop duo
Pet Shop Boys finally brought their thrilling
Electric Tour to Rome yesterday evening as part of the Auditorium Parco della Musica’s annual open air concert programme
Luglio Suona Bene.
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| Electric Tour light show at the Auditorium Parco della Musica |
The concert was initially devised as a launch pad for their 2013 album
Electric, so the show naturally opened with
Axis, a track from that release, but the evening that followed was also crammed full of songs from their extensive back catalogue of timeless pop classics culled from every decade since the 1980s. It’s been a while since I’ve returned from a concert hoarse, but from the outset this was nothing short of an enormous Pet Shop Boys sing-along party. As is often the case in Rome, the audience wriggled politely in their seats for the first few songs, until
Suburbia got everybody up and dancing and saw a sudden rush of hardcore fans to below the stage. The momentum never waned for a second after that point, with song after song met with huge cheers.
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| Pet Shop Boys at Luglio Suona Bene 2015 |
It would be hard to pick a best moment, but I particularly enjoyed
I'm Not Scared,
West End Girls,
It’s a Sin and
Always on my Mind, and the wonderfully anthemic
Go West, which was the first of the two encores. The evening ended with a perfect show closer -
Vocal – leaving us with the lyrics "This is my kind of music, They play it all night long" …ringing in our ears.
With endless costume changes, dancing Minotaurs, mirror balls, confetti canons, and a visually spectacular light show projected onto Renzo Piano’s distinctive roof of the Sala Sinopoli concert hall, not to mention a stunning performance by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, this leg of the Electric Tour was simply unmissable! A fabulous time was had by all!
Full setlist:
1. Axis
2. One More Chance / A Face Like That
3. Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)
4. Fugitive
5. Integral
6. I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing
7. Suburbia
8. I'm Not Scared
9. Fluorescent
10. West End Girls
11. Somewhere
12. Leaving
13. Thursday
14. Love Etc.
15. I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)
16. Rent
17. It's a Sin
18. Domino Dancing
19. Always on My Mind
Encore:
20. Go West
21. Vocal
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