Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live is a worldwide concert tour by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys. Billed by the group as their "first ever Greatest Hits tour",[1] Dreamworld was originally announced on 11 September 2019, to take place in arenas across the United Kingdom from May to June 2020.[2] The dates were postponed several times as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[3] The tour ultimately began on 10 May 2022, at Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan.[4]
The tour included stops at Glastonbury Festival in 2022[5] and the Primavera Sound festivals in Barcelona, Madrid and Porto in June 2023, as well as its Latin American counterparts in November and December 2023.[6][7] A five-night residency was held at the Royal Opera House in London in July 2024.[8] Dreamworld continued through August 2025,[9] with another leg scheduled to start in Japan in January 2026.[10]
In 2023, Pet Shop Boys released Smash: The Singles 1985–2020, a greatest hits album inspired by the tour.[11] A film recording of the tour's stop in Copenhagen premiered in cinemas worldwide in January and February 2024, under the title Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live at the Royal Arena Copenhagen.[12]
Background and itinerary
On 11 September 2019, Pet Shop Boys announced their first-ever greatest hits tour, "Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live", with seven dates in arenas throughout the United Kingdom, beginning on 28 May 2020 at London's The O2 Arena and ending on 6 June at Glasgow's SSE Hydro.[2] On 14 November 2019, with the announcement of the duo's fourteenth album Hotspot, more tour dates were revealed, with the tour now scheduled to begin on 1 May at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Berlin and end on 19 June at the OverOslo festival in Oslo.[13] However, on 8 April 2020, Pet Shop Boys announced that the United Kingdom dates would be rescheduled to May and June 2021, following government advice as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.[14] On 3 February 2021, the Pet Shop Boys rescheduled the tour again, this time to begin on 13 May 2022 at Vienna's Gasometer and end on 15 June 2022 in Stockholm's Ericsson Globe.[3] On 19 October 2021, six more dates were added, including the first show on 10 May 2022 in Milan's Teatro degli Arcimboldi and a tentative end date on 6 July 2022 at Budapest Park.[4][15] Finally, on 4 March 2022, the Pet Shop Boys announced the final show of the first leg, taking place on 16 July 2022 at the Gran Canaria Arena in the Canary Islands.[16]
In September and October 2022, Pet Shop Boys co-headlined the Unity Tour in North America with New Order.[17]
The Dreamworld tour resumed on 31 December 2022, headlining Edinburgh's Hogmanay Concert in the Gardens.[18] Pet Shop Boys performed Dreamworld at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona, Madrid and Porto in June 2023, including free sideshows at the 2,900-capacity Sala Apolo in Barcelona and 1,550-capacity Joy Eslava in Madrid.[19][20] The tour continued through the United Kingdom and Europe from 13 June to 9 July, from Rome to Gothenburg.[21][22]
The tour visited Latin America from 19 November 2023 to 10 December 2023. It began at the Corona Capital festival in Mexico City and ended at the "Road to Primavera Sound" event in Bogotá after the original festival was cancelled and downsized.[23][24]
The tour was further scheduled to continue in 2024, with a United Kingdom run from 4 to 11 June and a European run from 26 June to 6 July.[25][26][27] The band's 11 June concert in Belfast was their first there since 1991.[28] In July, they played a five-night residency at the Royal Opera House in London.[8] On 22 July, the duo announced a standalone show on 6 September in Blackpool, performing at Funny Girls cabaret bar for the first time in their 43-year career. The concert was 'an intimate performance' intended as a warm-up for their subsequent appearance at the thirteenth iteration of Radio 2 in the Park, as headliners of the event's final night on 8 September 2024.[29][30][31]
In the summer of 2025, Dreamworld carried on with festival stops in Europe, including both the Lisbon and Madrid sites of Kalorama, and four concerts in the UK, concluding at Warwick Castle at the end of August.[9][32][33] The tour is scheduled to make its first visit to Japan in January 2026.[10]
Concert synopsis
The concert begins with the 1986 single "Suburbia" as Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe stand onstage between two streetlight props, both sporting tuning fork headwear. Behind the duo is a screen displaying moving images for each song. In between "Can You Forgive Her?" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", Tennant removes his tuning fork mask. During the instrumental intro of "Left to My Own Devices", the streetlights are removed and the screen is lifted, revealing the backing band for the first time. Lowe unmasks himself and moves to a new elevated platform that was previously hidden behind the screen, while Tennant changes costumes. Before "Dreamland", Tennant and Lowe change costumes again, sporting silver overcoats. Throughout the concert, Tennant explains the origins of the songs on the setlist, such as telling a story of how "Domino Dancing" came from a friend's victory dance after playing dominoes in Saint Lucia.[34] The main set ends with "It's a Sin".[35]
For the encore of "West End Girls" and "Being Boring", Tennant changes into a black trench coat while Lowe wears his own "Boy" brand baseball cap, as a nod to the duo's trademark look during the 1980s.[35]
Concert film
The concert film Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live at the Royal Arena Copenhagen was filmed using footage from the tour's 7 July 2023 date at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen. It was directed by David Barnard and recorded in 4K resolution by 14 different cameras. It was released through Trafalgar Releasing. It was screened globally in theatres on 31 January and 4 February 2024.[36]
Setlist
The following set lists are from the shows in Hull (31 May 2022),[37]Brighton (26 June 2023),[35] and Manchester (9 June 2024).[38] They are not intended to represent all shows of the tour. In 2024, three songs from the new album Nonetheless were included.[8]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
