New Order and Pet Shop Boys touring together on 2022’s The Unity Tour seems at first pass like an unusual pairing, until we remember that Neil Tennant and Bernard Sumner have a long history together, beginning their musical alliance alongside Johnny Marr with the 1989 single “Getting Away With It” with their band Electronic.
33 years later there’s no Johnny Marr touring with them, but stadium-filling DJ Paul Oakenfold warmed the crowd before opener New Order and then again before the Pet Shop Boys in 30-minute sets, spinning legendary remixes by Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Robin, David Bowie, and The Killers.
New Order’s lineup this tour includes Bernard Sumner, Gillian Gilbert, Stephen Morris, Phil Cunningham, and Tom Chapman, and their setlist is strong, with songs representing many different albums and a closing encore of Love Will Tear Us Apart. The crowd favorite was Blue Monday with three generations of listeners spontaneously dancing in aisles and celebrating their love for it.
Pet Shop Boys had an almost flawless setlist, with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe plus backing band playing hit after hit with a couple of slightly deeper cuts (Can You Forgive Her?, Losing My Mind, Dreamland) plus perennial favorites Suburbia, It’s A Sin, and West End Girls. Domino Dancing was a surprise audience favorite – it never made it to the Top 10 Billboard charts in the US, but the crowd sang it like it was their own personal number one.
The Unity Tour was pandemic-postponed but well worth the wait, and fans got a great three-for-one experience on this ticket of decades-spanning superstars.