News: Obscure Pet Shop Boys/Volume

The Pet Shop Boys have announced a five-show run in London dedicated to the most obscure corners of their catalog. Aptly titled "Obscure Pet Shop Boys", the shows at Camden's 1,500-cap Electric Ballroom will see Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant perform non-album singles, B-sides and other deep cuts. 

 

The residency runs from April 6th through 10th next year, and all profits from the April 8th show will go to War Child. In a statement, Lowe and Tennant said they're "very excited at the prospect of going deeper into our song catalogue in these shows." 

The run follows Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits tour in 2023, which saw the duo play in Glasgow, Manchester, Belfast and more last year. Their July 2023 show at Copenhagen's Royal Arena was turned into a concert film, Dreamworld, which premiered in August 2024.

Also, marking the 40th., anniversary of the release of their first album, Please, in 1986,  the beloved Pet Heads are announcing "Pet Shop Boys Volume" which is the definitive retrospective and complete visual record of the duo’s career, presented year by year in a contemporary literary format. The limited edition of 750 is now sold out.

Pet Shop Boys:  Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, including No. 1 hits ‘West End girls’, ‘It’s a sin’ and ‘Always on my mind’, and platinum-selling albums Please, Actually, and Very. Uniquely spanning the worlds of music, art, film, theatre, design, and fashion, Pet Shop Boys have forged an identity as unforgettable as their sound. From the seminal graphic design of their record sleeves to their groundbreaking videos and innovative stage shows, they have set the bar for the visual presentation of pop.

Expanding upon Pet Shop Boys Catalogue, published two decades ago, this book presents their entire visual output to date year by brilliant year. Sleeve artworks and packaging, stills from every video, film, and performance, stage sets and costume designs, photoshoots, publications and even Christmas cards all feature, as does every collaboration with luminaries including Mark Farrow, Wolfgang Tillmans, Martin Parr, Bruce Weber, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Scott King, Zaha Hadid, Tom Scutt and Es Devlin.

Concise commentaries by Chris Heath and Philip Hoare provide illuminating insights into the genesis of each project. Hoare’s original introduction is accompanied by a new introduction from Libby Sellers, who considers the importance of Pet Shop Boys within the history of design, while a new foreword by Jeremy Deller reflects on the enduring impact of their music and image. 

With a cover and slipcase designed by Farrow and a brand-new conversation between Heath, Tennant and Lowe, Pet Shop Boys Volume is a visual feast and a sumptuous tribute to four decades of creative innovation.

Specification:

234 × 156 mm
592 pages
Hardback
Slipcase