The performance recorded for the album took place at the Mermaid Theatre in London on 8 May 2006, as an exclusive for broadcast on BBC Radio 2's Sold on Song programme on 27 May. Attendance, totalling 600, was by invitation or through competitions held by Radio 2 and the band's official website. The event was hosted by the BBC's Stuart Maconie.
The 27 May Radio 2 broadcast included an interview conducted by Maconie, but excluded four songs from the running order ("You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk", "After All", "Numb", and "Dreaming of the Queen"). The full concert was later broadcast on BBC 6 Music on 28 August.
The concert was a launch event for the Pet Shop Boys' new studio album, Fundamental, released on 22 May 2006. Trevor Horn, the producer of Fundamental, was the music director for the concert and also produced Concrete.
Due to the presence of the orchestra, the setlist was composed to consist of songs originally recorded with an orchestra. Consequently, in addition to an extensive selection of songs from Fundamental, various non-studio album tracks were chosen, including the arrangement of "Rent" from the Liza Minnelli album Results, originally arranged by Angelo Badalamenti; "After All", the portion of the band's Battleship Potemkin soundtrack that accompanies the Odessa Steps sequence from the film (performed with the scene projected on a screen in the background); "Friendly Fire", from the Closer to Heaven musical; and "Nothing Has Been Proved", the theme song from Scandal, also arranged by Badalamenti. "West End Girls" and "It's a Sin" were the only exceptions to the rule, and were reworked to integrate the orchestra.
Neil Tennant introduced the songs with anecdotes, which appear on the album. Special guests sang lead vocals on three of the songs. Rufus Wainwright performed "Casanova in Hell" from Fundamental. Frances Barber, who had played the lead role in Closer to Heaven, sang "Friendly Fire". On "Jealousy", the earliest song written by Pet Shop Boys, Tennant recited the opening quote from Shakespeare's Othello, and Robbie Williams sang the rest.
Opera singer Sally Bradshaw reprised her vocals from the 1988 hit, "Left to My Own Devices". Other guest musicians included Anne Dudley on piano, Steve Lipson and Phil Palmer on guitar, and Lol Creme and Sylvia Mason-James on backing vocals.
Pet Shop Boys agreed to release a live album to pay for the concert. The album was initially announced under the name Concert, but it was changed to Concrete, which was the duo's original preferred title. It debuted at its peak position of 61 on the UK Albums Chart. In the United States, Concrete was released as a digital download by Astralwerks on 17 May 2011.
No hay comentarios.:
Publicar un comentario