The Super Tour was a worldwide concert tour by English synthpop duo Pet Shop Boys in support of their thirteenth studio album Super (2016). It began with a four-night residency entitled Inner Sanctum at the Royal Opera House in London in July 2016. A repeat performance of the residency in July 2018 was recorded for the live album and concert film, Inner Sanctum (2019).[1] The tour visited North America, South America, Europe, and Asia from 2016 to 2019.[2]
In January 2016, Pet Shop Boys announced their album, Super, along with the first concert dates at the Royal Opera House in July, which sold out.[3][4] The first leg of the Super Tour kicked off on 13 October 2016 in Santiago, Chile.[5] At their next stop in Buenos Aires, Pet Shop Boys were a highlight of the BUE Fesitval, according to the news channel Todo Noticias, turning Tecnópolis into a disco as the closing act.[6]
Heading to North America, they played Las Vegas on 21 October and toured the western United States and Canada before moving east across the continent, finishing in Miami Beach on 16 November.[7] They next appeared at Corona Capital in Mexico City, where Consequence of Sound rated the performance one of the festival's ten best.[8] A series of dates in Europe in late November and early December closed out the year.[7]
2017
The first UK dates of the Super Tour outside London took place in February 2017 in Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, and Bournemouth.[9] Due to popular demand, two additional dates were added in Blackpool and Nottingham in June.[10] A show at the Olympia in Paris was cancelled because the lasers which were an integral part of the performance could not be used indoors, according to French law.[11]
In June, Pet Shop Boys performed at Tel Aviv Pride in Israel.[12] They headlined Bergenfest in Norway[13] and visited the Tinderbox Festival in Denmark.[14] Six stops in Germany spanned June and July.[15][16] Other venues included the historic Royal Theater Carré in Amsterdam[17] and the Dalhalla open-air theatre in a quarry in Sweden.[18]
July and August dates featured a number of festivals. A headline appearance at the 51st Montreux Jazz Festival was described as a grandiloquent show from the electro dandies by Radio Télévision Suisse.[19] The Oxford Mail called the Henley Festival on the River Thames, with its black tie dress code, "a good fit for the dapper duo".[20] In Spain, Pet Shop Boys appeared at the Cruïlla Barcelona Summer Festival and the Universal Music Festival to commemorate the bicentennial of the Teatro Real in Madrid.[21] Other festivals included the Tall Ships Races Music Festival in Finland,[22] the Storsjöyran Festival in Sweden,[18] the Lucca Summer Festival in Italy,[23] Jazine Open Air in Croatia,[24] and the Brussels Summer Festival in Belgium.[25]
Pet Shop Boys headlined the Brighton Pride Summer of Love Festival in August.[26] In September, the tour visited Gateshead, in Neil Tennant's native Tyneside, and Dublin, Ireland, with second dates added for each after the first sold out.[27][28] They wrapped up their European dates with a set at Bestival in Dorset, England.[29]
The Super Tour returned to South America in September and October. Their performance at the Rock in Rio festival is included on Inner Sanctum.[30] They played four additional dates in Brazil,[31] followed by a show in Lima, Peru, and two in Mexico. The last stop of the tour for 2017 was a headline appearance at the Breakfest Festival in Medellin, Colombia.[32]
2018
In addition to the reprise of the Royal Opera House residency that was filmed for Inner Sanctum,[33] there were several Super Tour dates in the summer of 2018. Five years after a successful appearance at the Õllesummer during the Electric Tour, Pet Shop Boys headlined the festival on 6 July.[34] At Törebodafestivalen in Sweden, Pet Shop Boys were the biggest band to have played there, both in terms of status and the setup of their show.[35] The tour next headed to Spain for the Starlite Festival in Marbella[36] and the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim.[37]
In early August, Pet Shop Boys played two dates in one week in Finland, at Helsinki Ice Hall and the Wasa Open Air festival.[38] The last Super Tour show of the summer was at the SZIN Festival in Hungary.[39]
2019
The final leg of the Super Tour was a trip to Asia in late March and early April of 2019, with stops in Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Osaka.[2][40] Pet Shop Boys cancelled a scheduled show in Bangkok, citing "circumstances beyond our control".[41]
Production
Set and lighting
Balloons above the stage at a Super Tour concert
The Super Tour was designed to be "fast-paced, bright, high tech, and overwhelming", according to lighting director Rob Sinclair.[42] Pet Shop Boys' long-term collaborator Es Devlin was the creative director, and Andrew Turner designed the laser display.[43]
Circles were the central motif, based on the circle logo on the album cover of Super. Concentric LED rings, ranging from 5 to 28 feet in diameter, hung behind the performers.[42] Light from the rings was diffused through a translucent backdrop, which served as a projection surface for video content, and lasers were used to produce a halo effect.[43]
During the opening number, the duo were revealed onstage via a pair of rotating circular set pieces that doubled as projection surfaces.[44][45] For the finale, colourful, glowing balloons were suspended above the stage.[46]
Music and performance
As a change from previous productions such as the Electric Tour (2013–15) and the Pandemonium Tour (2009–10), Pet Shop Boys decided to have a band playing with them onstage.[42][47] The touring musicians were Afrika Green on percussion, Christina Hizon on keyboards and violin, and Simon Tellier on percussion and keyboards, with all three singing backing vocals.[48]
The show was split into four acts: In The Night, Sun, Inside, and Euphoric.[4] The duo's entrance to "Inner Sanctum" (2016) was followed by their original hit, "West End Girls" (1985), including extra verses from an early version.[49][a] Recent single "The Pop Kids" led into the early B-side "In the Night" (1985), and a scrim was dropped to reveal the band as the first act ended.[42][47] Hizon joined Tennant on vocals for "Burn" (2016), and she played violin on "Love Is a Bourgeois Construct" (2013).[50]
Tennant joined in on keyboards for a new arrangement of "Love Comes Quickly" (1986), which was followed by "Love Etc." (2009). A downtempo section included the HappySad remix of "Winner" (2012),[49] and the band followed Tennant across the stage singing harmonies on an ambient mix of "Home and Dry" (2002).[48]Chris Lowe took the lead on the instrumental "The Enigma" (2014) from the Pet Shop Boys' tribute to Alan Turing, A Man from the Future, as a prelude to the euphoric "Vocal" (2013), followed by "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show" (2006).[17]
New versions of several old favourites were introduced. On "Left to My Own Devices" (1988), the original orchestrations were replaced with synthesizers and lively percussion from Green and Tellier.[17] "Go West" (1993) began with an intro from "Heart" (1987).[b] For the encore, a reworked version of "Domino Dancing" (1988) was followed by "Always on My Mind" (1988) and a reprise of "The Pop Kids".[45]
The Royal Opera House Inner Sanctum shows included dancers, choreographed by Lynne Page.[30] A body popper performed during "New York City Boy" (1999), and a video of the dancer was shown on the tour.[52][48] Three dancers dressed like aliens in silver suits and helmets appeared onstage and shadowed Tennant during "Inside a Dream" (2013).[44][52] The finale featured a troupe of dancers in colourful inflatable suits, matching the balloons overhead.[53]
Costumes
The Guardian noted in a concert review, "Headgear turns out to be a big feature".[52] The duo entered wearing metallic helmets, with Lowe's encasing his entire head and Tennant's resembling a garland crown. The trio of band members also wore helmets, which they kept on for much of the show, switching to multi-coloured headgear for the finale.[50][46]
Lowe reverted to his trademark cap and shades with casual attire, while Tennant wore a black suit and tie.[54] For "The Dictator Decides" (2016), Tennant donned a Russian hat and greatcoat, which he then traded for a silver jacket.[50][29]
Notes
↑ From 2017, "West End Girls" moved down the set list and "Opportunities" took its place.[29]
↑ In 2016, "Opportunities" was used as a lead-in to "Go West" before the full song was added to the set list in 2017.[51]
Critical reception
Several reviewers were impressed by the stage production. Shaun Curran of The Independent described the 2016 Royal Opera House residency as "Affected, moving, colourful and flat out fun, it is some spectacle",[4] while Will Hodgkinson of The Times called the 2018 version "rave lasers in overdrive, blob dancers in freeform, ageing pop kids having the time of their lives".[55] A reviewer for the Edinburgh Evening News wrote of a show at The Playhouse: "If ever evidence were needed that Pet Shop Boys' gigs are so much more than just a concert, last night did just that. A full-on theatrical production, it was a glorious sensory overload".[54] Joe Lynch from Billboard described the New York City concert: "There was a stark white-and-black arcade game aesthetic, a picturesque sunset paired with smoky wide-beam lasers, concentric circles rendered in vibrant greens, blues and pinks, and glowing, multi-colored balloons at the close of the show."[46]
Reviewers also commented on the music selections. Gordon Barr of the Newcastle Chronicle wrote: "This is a tour through the entire Pet Shop Boys career, right up to last year's Super album, with a smattering of tracks from that collection sitting nicely with the hits we have grown to love – and never tire of – over the past three decades".[56] Angelo Santoro of New York Live described "that special feeling when you begin to hear the opening of the universal anthem ["West End Girls"]. Having this song appear between the two newest "Inner Sanctum", and "The Pop Kids", you get a good sense of how they have continued to compose revolutionary music".[48] Hodgkinson of The Times summed up, "After nearly 40 years in the game, Pet Shop Boys have carved out a unique position in pop. They are the same as they ever were, yet remain fresh and vibrant".[55]
Set list
The following set lists are from the shows in Toronto (6 November 2016),[57] Birmingham (24 February 2017),[45] and London (25–28 July 2018).[30] They are not intended to represent all shows of the tour.
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