Pet Shop Boys @ 02 arena

Well I have to blog my visit to see Pet Shop Boys on their Pandemonium tour at London's 02 arena. They were quite brilliant. 

One of the things about seeing artists live is that they often play the tracks as they sound on their album. Yet the Pet Shop Boys often take a more imaginative approach and present their tracks in new remixed versions coupled with stunning visuals. Particular highlights for me were the re-workings of "Why Don't We Live Together?" and "Two Divided by Zero". The Shep Pettibone Remixes of "Love Comes Quickly" and "West End Girls" sounded as fresh as they did when they were first released in 1986.

Only a few grumbles. The sound was pretty poor in terms of quality and also far too quiet for a venue of this size. The 02 which encloses the arena, and the transport links seem to struggle with large numbers of people leaving at the same time. Having to walk around the entire 02 to get out is not good planning. The merchandise was rather expensive and not a massive amount of choice. A disappointment to me. Roll on December and the MEN in Manchester (which I didn't make as the snow was so heavy the trains were cancelled).