Concrete (Pet Shop Boys album)

Concrete is the seventeenth album by the British band Pet Shop Boys. It was released on 23 October 2006. Due to be called Concert, on 20 September 2006, Pet Shop Boys announced that the album was going to be called Concrete, which was the title that they originally wanted for the album. It is the first live concert to be released by the band on Audio CD.

The concert

The performance recorded for the album took place at the Mermaid Theatre on May 8, 2006, as an exclusive for broadcast on BBC Radio 2's Sold on Song program. Attendance, totaling 600, was by invitation or through winning competitions held by Radio 2 and the band's official website. The event was hosted by the BBC's Stuart Maconie.

The May 27 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 August 28.

Song selection

Due to the presence of the orchestra, the setlist was composed to consist of songs originally recorded with an orchestra. Consequently, aside from 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.

Personnel

Pet Shop Boys are:

• Neil Tennant
• Chris Lowe

Other musicians:

• Trevor Horn – music director, bass and backing vocals
• The BBC Concert Orchestra
• Pete Gleadall – programming
• Nick Ingerman – conductor
• Anne Dudley – piano, keyboards
• Phil Palmer – guitar
• Steve Lipson – guitar
• Paul Robinson – drums
• Lol Crème – backing vocals
• Andy Caine – backing vocals
• Lucinda Barry – backing vocals
• Sylvia Mason-James – backing vocals
• Sally Bradshaw – opera singer

Guest singers:

• Rufus Wainwright
• Frances Barber
• Robbie Williams

Track listing

CD one

1. "Left to my own devices" (8:37)
2. "Rent" (3:56)
3. "You only tell me you love me when you're drunk" (3:31)
4. "The Sodom and Gomorrah Show" (5:33)
5. "Casanova in Hell" (sung by Rufus Wainwright) (3:40)
6. "After all" (7:56)
7. "Friendly fire" (sung by Frances Barber) (3:57)
8. "Integral" (4:01)

CD two

1. "Numb" (5:03)
2. "It's alright" (5:03)
3. "Luna Park" (6:21)
4. "Nothing has been proved" (4:40)
5. "Jealousy" (sung by Robbie Williams) (5:57)
6. "Dreaming of the Queen" (5:28)
7. "It's a sin" (5:18)
8. "Indefinite leave to remain" (2:59)
9. "West End Girls" (4:55)

Spoken words between songs, by Neil Tennant

Disc: 1

1. Left To My Own Devices

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Thank you very much, thank you, welcome to mermaid theatre, this is a very exciting night, umm, we've got a few very special guests as well, umm, that song 'left to my own devices', was the first song we ever recorded, with an orchestra, and it was arranged by Richard Niles, the following year we made, an album with liza minelli, and we got angelo badalementi to compose, to arrange a version of 'rent', and we're going to do it now

2. Rent

---

Thank you, the next song was arranged for us by craig armstrong, its from the album called 'Nightlife', the songs called, 'You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk'

3. You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk

---

Oh yes, we still like that one, it's getting a bit sweaty under there, this next song is from our new album, which is called 'Fundamental', this song is called 'Sodom and Gomorrah', the orchestra was arranged by Anne Dudley, and well here it is.

4. The Sodom And Gomorrah Show

---

Good, well that's the first time we've performed that one, in front of an audience, thank you for that, now we have the first of our three special guests, he's flown in from America, he's going to sing a new song from the album, with an arrangement by mr nick ingman, the conductor, the song is 'cassanova in hell', and the singer is Rufus Wainright!

5. Cassanova in Hell

---

MR Rufus Wainright, ladies and gentlemen!

Ah, a couple of years ago we wrote some original music for the famous film 'Battleship Potemkin', and we performed it in Trafalagar Square, and only last week we performed it in Newcastle, at swanhunter shipyard, which was very exciting,

We wrote it as a combination of electronics and strings, and we asked a German composer, called 'Torsten Rasch' to do the orchestration, we're going to play our favourite bit of the score, which is also a very famous scene in film history, its the famous odessa steps sequence, and this song is called 'After All'.

6. After All

---

Thank you, in another project outside of the music stuff, we wrote a musical a few years ago, with the help of jonathan harvery called 'Closer to Heaven', and in the musical is a character of a rock singer slightly down on her luck, who was played by the brilliant frances barber, and the character was called 'billy trix', and had a song called 'friendly fire', which was arranged for us by craig armstrong, and Frances Barber is here tonight, to sing it, Frances Barber!

7. Friendly Fire

---

Frances Barber, she'll always be cleopatra, this is a song from the new album, it was inspired by the issue of ID cards, which Chris and i are very against, this song is called 'Integral'

8. Integral

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Disc: 2

1. Numb

---

Thank you very much, that's another song from the new album, it was written, not by us, but by Diane Warren, and a wonderful string arrangement by Steve Sidwell, this lady by the way, who was at the beginning of the show is also at the beginning of the second half and she's called Sally Bradshaw!

2. It's Alright

---

Sally Bradshaw, that's an old rave classic, ahem, well it is, the next song, is called 'Luna Park', it is from the new album, and it was also arranged by the conductor mister Nick Ingman.

3. Luna Park

---

i'm going to use this minute to introduce you to our backing singers, blowing his nose, mister lol creme, lucinda barry, well actually on the record, and also plays harp, Andy Caine,

i'm sure the petheads here will recognize, Slyvia Mason-James, i need the words for this one, somebody may remember, we made an album, half an album, with Dusty Springfield in the late 80s, and we wrote a song for the film 'Scandal', which Dusty sang with us, and umm, this song, which actually tells the whole story of the profuma affair, performed in about 4 minutes, so you didn't actually need to see the film once you heard the song, anyways its called 'Nothing Has Been Proved' and again it was arranged by Angelo Badalamenti, 'Nothing Has Been Proved'.

4. Nothing Has Been Proved

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The first song Chris and i ever wrote, was called 'Jealousy' , Chris went to blackpool for the weekend, and he came back with a cassette of something he had written, on his parents piano, and he sort of gave it to me, and i wrote this lyric to it, and it became 'Jealousy', and we didn't record it for another 10 years, with Harold Faltemeyer, but here it is tonight.

5. Jealousy

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Mister Robbie Williams, its just slightly over the top at the end of that song, the next song is arranged by Anne Dudley, we recorded it for our 'Very' album, umm, and its a song about 'anxiety' dream, its called 'Dreaming of the Queen'.

6. Dreaming Of The Queen

---

Thank you very much indeed, well before we do our last song tonight, awww, ah, well they'll be the encore then, i'd like to thank, once again, our musical director tonight, mr Trevor Horn, standing next to him, another legendary musician, Phil Parlor, its a legend heavy show, cause he's next to Steve Lipson, who'd have ever thought we'd see the day, when the Pet Shop Boys would have a drummer on stage, he's not a drum machine, he is Paul Robinson, of course Anne Dudley on keyboards, and piano, he's behind a cone, but a round of applause for our programmer Pete Gleadall, i assume you recognize Chris Lowe, i'm neil tennant, we're the Pet Shop Boys, and we like to thank and show our extreme appreciation for the bbc concert orchestra conducted by nick ingman, i know the words of this song, it is called 'It's a Sin'!

7. It's A Sin

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Obviously, its not really the end, but this is going to be end, after this one, umm, this is a song from our new album, fundamental, this song sort of sounds like the Hovis advert it's called 'Indefinite Leave to Remain'.

8. Indefinite Leave to Remain

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(none)

9. West End Girls

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Thank you very much for coming, thank you Radio 2, thank you BBC orchestra we love you, we'll see you soon, bye bye!

References

• Radio 2 Concert. Literally (Pet Shop Boys fanclub magazine). (2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-10..

External links

The concert

• Pet Shop Boys official site All official announcements
• BBC Radio 2 - Sold on Song Concert page, with photos
• Boywatch Fan review