G'Day from Perth, Western Australia

[Nytrydr]

Greetings, people with obvious good taste in music (and those who just dropped by).

The Pet Shop Boys may not have enjoyed the 1 (count them 1) time they toured Perth in 1995, and may have wondered "what were we thinking", but those of us who live here sure as hell enjoyed THEM.

I count myself among the fortunate ones, in that my first ever concert by any artist was their Discovery tour that year. I mean if you are gonna wait till you are 20 to go see a concert, why not start at the top, right? I can still recall so vividly my ultraexcitement about the whole thing, and completely Losing My Mind when the first second of Always on My Mind was played (it's fair to say I'd been waiting for it a very long time at that stage) and they did not disappoint - when do they ever?

Unfortunately it was a bloody hard act to follow, and I have been left a bit cold by other gigs (not PSB gigs, I only got to 1 sos far). Got all the albums, and as much other stuff as I could, cassettes, LPs singles, cassingles, and right now I'm for some reason really digging the Further Listening CD that came with the re-release of Bilingual. More than I'm enjoying the Album, but that'll change it wlays does.

Like many of you here (read some cracking posts here) I feel almost as if I know them personally though I never met either artist, I'm just so endebted to the BOys for so many, many hours of pure joy, melancholy, genuine despair and so many quotable lines. My friends all know that whenever I come up with a line that sounds apt for a situation, or am trying to explain stuff and don't sound like an idiot I'm probably quoting something the Boys wrote.

I cannot believe I am only just now finding this forum, but I'm thrilled to bits that I have.

On the off chance, anyone with any influence over touring reads these posts, YES, Perth is still something of a cultural wasteland, but it HAS improved and you would make a lot of people phenomenally, ridiculously, stupendously happy if the Boys could tour here again one day - we even have a semi-decent venue now, honest!!

[RaciePSB]

Hi Nytrydr! (What *does* that stand for..?)
I am pleased to make your acquaintance, and only sorry it's taken me this long to see your post! I always get super excited when I see somebody who is clearly as passionate about The PSB as I. I can relate to much of what you're saying!

Ah.. Discovery tour 94..! You say 95, are you sure they played in Perth in 95? I know without a doubt they played in Brisbane in the first half of 94 because my daughter was weeks away from being born (on June 3rd of that year), and was the reason I was not allowed to fly down from Mackay for the concert! (I still haven't forgiven her!)

You sound like I must have sounded when I first joined the official forum back in 99, - I could have sworn that I was the only fan in Australia of the Pet Shop Boys, and that they probably pumped out all their wonderful music just for my sake.. and if there were any others I would never be likely to cross paths with them.. Belonging to a forum like this changed everything for me. There's nothing quite like having somebody share your enthusiasm for something you're crazy about!

I worked out you are 35ish, but I can't tell if you're a girl or boy, gay or straight - none of which matters I suppose! I do think we would get along like a house on fire though, so if you're ever in Brisbane you have to look me up - and of course we will meet up for any and all concerts that come our way!

Greetings, people with obvious good taste in music (and those who just dropped by).

The Pet Shop Boys may not have enjoyed the 1 (count them 1) time they toured Perth in 1995, and may have wondered "what were we thinking", but those of us who live here sure as hell enjoyed THEM.

I count myself among the fortunate ones, in that my first ever concert by any artist was their Discovery tour that year. I mean if you are gonna wait till you are 20 to go see a concert, why not start at the top, right? I can still recall so vividly my ultraexcitement about the whole thing, and completely Losing My Mind when the first second of Always on My Mind was played (it's fair to say I'd been waiting for it a very long time at that stage) and they did not disappoint - when do they ever?

Unfortunately it was a bloody hard act to follow, and I have been left a bit cold by other gigs (not PSB gigs, I only got to 1 sos far). Got all the albums, and as much other stuff as I could, cassettes, LPs singles, cassingles, and right now I'm for some reason really digging the Further Listening CD that came with the re-release of Bilingual. More than I'm enjoying the Album, but that'll change it wlays does.

Like many of you here (read some cracking posts here) I feel almost as if I know them personally though I never met either artist, I'm just so endebted to the BOys for so many, many hours of pure joy, melancholy, genuine despair and so many quotable lines. My friends all know that whenever I come up with a line that sounds apt for a situation, or am trying to explain stuff and don't sound like an idiot I'm probably quoting something the Boys wrote.

I cannot believe I am only just now finding this forum, but I'm thrilled to bits that I have.

On the off chance, anyone with any influence over touring reads these posts, YES, Perth is still something of a cultural wasteland, but it HAS improved and you would make a lot of people phenomenally, ridiculously, stupendously happy if the Boys could tour here again one day - we even have a semi-decent venue now, honest!!

[SIN]

1994 from memory.

For the Perth tour, if you waited at the back door of the Perth Entertainment Centre after the concert you would have been lucky enough to meet Neil and Chris. They came out for about 20 minutes for a handful of fans.

I was very pleased!

[RaciePSB]

1994 from memory.

For the Perth tour, if you waited at the back door of the Perth Entertainment Centre after the concert you would have been lucky enough to meet Neil and Chris. They came out for about 20 minutes for a handful of fans.

I was very pleased!

How jealous I am!! I think I would have fainted from excitement to see them face to face! I have decided that when they next come to Australia I will go to ALL of their performances. Each and every one, to make up for a lifetime of missing out!

[Niall]

November 1, 1994.

[Niall]

1994 from memory.

For the Perth tour, if you waited at the back door of the Perth Entertainment Centre after the concert you would have been lucky enough to meet Neil and Chris. They came out for about 20 minutes for a handful of fans.

I was very pleased!

That happened to me as well. We were standing on the old railway bridge that used to be behind the EntCent. Got to meet both. Spoke to Chris about football and get my chest patted with one hand as he signed above his head on my Discography shirt

[Nytrydr]

No, no, you are all correct. Late 94 it was. Dammit that means my wife was right, even before I met her, as she swore it was before we met and I swore it was just after. Nobody tell her, OK?

Yes, it was at the much maligned Entertainment Centre, and I wish I had hung around but I was very paranoid about getting a parking ticket (unnecessarily, I might add) because I hadn't accounted for how long the concert would take.

My Uni friends had mentioned wanting to go (so we aren't / weren't the only fans) but I wasn't waiting for their lazy asses to get tickets. So I sat alone, not knowing they were in the mosh pit having the time of their lives, and I had the absolute time of mine.

Pet Shop boys, dearest magicians of the aural arts. Please get the hell back here one day. Flights to anywhere from Perth cost a lot of money and I need to see you again before I go, or (far more tragically) one of you does.

Sorry it took me so long to check back in, but it's nice to see I got some replies form down under, and that I'm not alone in my fandom.

[Niall]

No, no, you are all correct. Late 94 it was. Dammit that means my wife was right, even before I met her, as she swore it was before we met and I swore it was just after. Nobody tell her, OK?

Yes, it was at the much maligned Entertainment Centre, and I wish I had hung around but I was very paranoid about getting a parking ticket (unnecessarily, I might add) because I hadn't accounted for how long the concert would take.

My Uni friends had mentioned wanting to go (so we aren't / weren't the only fans) but I wasn't waiting for their lazy asses to get tickets. So I sat alone, not knowing they were in the mosh pit having the time of their lives, and I had the absolute time of mine.

Pet Shop boys, dearest magicians of the aural arts. Please get the hell back here one day. Flights to anywhere from Perth cost a lot of money and I need to see you again before I go, or (far more tragically) one of you does.

Sorry it took me so long to check back in, but it's nice to see I got some replies form down under, and that I'm not alone in my fandom.

We won't tell the wife!
It was also Melbourne Cup Day - a Tuesday. We went into Perth to buy the Yesterday When I Was Mad single which had just come out.
You're right, Go West had been a big hit as had Absolutely Fabulous so the boys were pretty popular at that stage.
Things I remember: friends met Neil walking to sound check. My sister and her friends in the front row screamed for Chris throughout. He shrugged his shoulders at them. A drag queen came out from backstage. We were standing on the bridge near a policeman. As the drag queen passed him she looked him up and down and said, "evening, Plod," which we found hilarious. Neil seemed very tall, he didn't seem so tall when I met him in Blackpool in June. Chris wore a shirt and shorts, a lovely multi-coloured hat, no glasses and had a fair bit of stubble. We had a good old chat about football, mostly. Later, a jeep was driving round and round the carpark with the windows down playing the Introspective version of Domino Dancing really loud. It seemed to suit the excitement on that warm early summer evening perfectly. Chris went to the gay club Connections for a dance - a Liberation mix played. Neil and Chris went to DCs, a gay/gay-friendly club. Neil went earlyish, Chris got a lift back with the bouncer's sister. A day or two previously, Neil and Chris walked through Perth Train Station to Northbridge and weren't recognised. They went to the Moon cafe. A friend of a friend served them. Neil gave her a $5 tip. Neil felt they spent a bit too long in Perth - they had over-estimated how much there was too see and do. It's a bit better now.

[Bulldog]

Hi there! Perth houses the lovely Crawley Edge Boatshed, would like to visit that one day...

[Nytrydr]

I really have to check in here more often. Sorry its been, well, years and years (see what I did there?).

So much has happened.

For one thing, Love is a Bourgeois Construct is on very high repeat in my car, even though it is ageing a bit these days, it's still one of their best tracks in many moons IMHO.

I can now use spotify (I'm not a Luddite, but I've been slow to adopt smart phoneage) and have got My beautiful Launderette as my first album DL. It feels weird not to have the disc though.

Thanks for the historical responses. I do wish I had hung about.

46 (nowadays). Straight. Male and no it doesn't matter, good call.

Knight Rider. lol. The only thing I love as much as PSB.

We are not quite in a lockdown in Perth at present but there have been a few cases of Covid 19 delta variant, so we have to wear masks. honestly the way people in this country complain, you'd think it was the end of the world, but in Perth we just get on with it.

I think it will be amazing to see what kinda magic all the creative types who have been locked down keep coming up with in the next few years.

[Andie]

I really have to check in here more often. Sorry its been, well, years and years (see what I did there?).

So much has happened.

For one thing, Love is a Bourgeois Construct is on very high repeat in my car, even though it is ageing a bit these days, it's still one of their best tracks in many moons IMHO.

I can now use spotify (I'm not a Luddite, but I've been slow to adopt smart phoneage) and have got My beautiful Launderette as my first album DL. It feels weird not to have the disc though.

Thanks for the historical responses. I do wish I had hung about.

46 (nowadays). Straight. Male and no it doesn't matter, good call.

Knight Rider. lol. The only thing I love as much as PSB.

We are not quite in a lockdown in Perth at present but there have been a few cases of Covid 19 delta variant, so we have to wear masks. honestly the way people in this country complain, you'd think it was the end of the world, but in Perth we just get on with it.

I think it will be amazing to see what kinda magic all the creative types who have been locked down keep coming up with in the next few years.

Hi from Melbourne!!