Pet Shop Boys & New Order brought a fabulous synthpop show to Barclays Center (review, setlists)

For synthpop fans, Pet Shop Boys and New orderThe Unity Tour is a dream come true, with two of the most innovative bands of the past 40 years joining forces for a highly enjoyable, often dazzling night of classics in the form. Originally slated for 2020, the tour finally kicked off this week and hit Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on Friday night, the first of two NYC shows they’ll be playing.

Bands alternate who plays first or second, depending on the market, but setlists and set lengths have been pretty much the same regardless of what position they’re in. At Barclays, Pet Shop Boys were the first and gave a masterclass in how to do an arena/pavilion show. Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe took us on a nonstop tour through their discography (and videography), with every element of the show considered for maximum wow. It played almost like a musical jukebox, starring themselves and without any need for plot. Just the beatings.

Things started small with two streetlights placed in front of a mesh projection screen, making it look like they were playing in a parking lot. Orchestral opening music blared, strings and horns turned into rolling synthesizers, with bright lights blasting the crowd to the beat of dramatic drumbeats as a voice intoned the lyrics to “Love Comes Quickly” . The screen rose long enough for Tennant and Lowe to step out in white trench coats, wearing large metallic masks, to the sound of their 1986 single “Suburbia.”

After “Can You Forgive Her”, Tennant’s mask fell and they played the first hit “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)”. Tennant then waved to the crowd, clinging to the lamppost and deftly introducing the rest of the show as an intro for the following song: “We’re going on a journey, through music and memories, where West End Des girls dance dominoes with boys in New York; where Che Guevara and Debussy get easily carried away…but make it so hard; where being boring is a sin and the music plays forever…and the streets don’t ‘have no name.”

Speaking of which, the Pet Shop Boys are just as smart with their covers as they are with the originals: they mix U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Names” with Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You”, and spinning Sondheim’s “You Were Always on My Mind” and “Losing My Mind” in jubilant Eurodisco, all of which were highlights of the evening.

About a third of the way into their set, that video screen rose to reveal their backing band and even bigger LED screens, and from there things got gloriously cinematic, the songs stringing together. in the others for a see-through night of dancing (early) which also allowed Tennant and Lowe have time to change costumes. It was a pure, absolutely fabulous show that could play in Vegas or headline an EDM festival.

The whole crescendo with “Vocal” and “It’s A Sin”, an audio/video/emotional overload in the best way. Knowing the ceiling had just been hit, the Pet Shop Boys turned the heat down a bit, and the streetlight ensemble returned for a “West End Girls” finale, complete with its clanging bell and bloopy synths, then the elegant and sophisticated “Being Boring” to close their incredible set. “Go West” would have been nice, but there really is no knockout performance like this.

It would be hard for any band to follow the Pet Shop Boys set, but New Order always went their own way and didn’t even try to compete. That said, they’ve really upped their visual game for the Unity Tour, with fantastic showings that showcase their iconic album and unique art and music videos. And like the Pet Shop Boys, they’ve had classics for days and their most most loaded with them. An instrument of Republic‘Times Change’, paired with vintage footage of early ’80s New York City, was a classy intro, after which they took the stage and frontman Bernard Sumner hit the chords to their 1992 hit ‘Regret’. Good start.

New Order’s best songs combine electronics with traditional guitar-bass-drums rock, and few bands can do the same with two or three chords. Friday night’s most transcendent moments were when they performed on these: their debut single “Ceremony” and Power, corruption and lies cheerful “Age of Consent” and masterful “Your Silent Face”. The fusion of guitar lines, with their signature melodic bass, oceanic synths and Stephen Morris’ ever-perfect drumming always achieves pure bliss. And “Temptation”, which closed their main set, could have gone on forever as far as I’m concerned.

Bernard Sumner was in good spirits, laughing at a failed start to “Ceremony,” waving to the crowd with “Sorry, we’re two years late,” and joking about how they came to New York for their first shows and had all their equipment stolen. “If anyone sees our equipment, please contact us!”

The band’s more overt synthpop side was also in the spotlight, with ‘The Perfect Kiss’, ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’ and ‘True Faith’ – all of which had Barclays singing along – and of course ‘Blue Monday’ which is maybe overplayed, but those bass drums and electro hand claps still deliver. Some time was also spent on their newer material, with the disco “Plastic” and “Tutti Frutti” from 2015 Music finished. I think the set could have lost one, with Waiting for the sirens’ calls “Guilt Is a Useless Emotion” that may have been nominated for a Grammy but had a lot of people in for a bathroom break. In their place, maybe “Love Vigilantes”, “Thieves Like Us” or whatever Technical.

I also think New Order has enough good songs not to dip into Joy Division’s catalog (I realize I’m in the minority on this), but it’s also hard to argue with “Transmission” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart” which closed the show and was the most unifying moment of the evening.

The opening of the debates and the DJing between sets of the Unity Tour are Paul Oakenfold who was a frequent spinner at New Order’s Manchester club, The Hacienda, and on Friday night entertained the crowd with alternative dance hits from the 80s and early 90s. His set before New Order went heavy on Manchester and rave, and I wonder when he played “Step On” from Happy Mondays, how many people in the crowd knew he produced that song.

One note: this seems like a missed opportunity for Sumner and Tennant not to have tried to work on a version of Electronic’s “Getting Away With It” for this tour. It would make a great transition between sets.

The Unity Tour hits Philly on Sunday then returns to New York to play Madison Square Garden on Wednesday (09/28) with the order returned from Barclays, New Order playing first and Pet Shop Boys closing the evening. This is the most logical sequel: although New Order is one of my favorite bands of all time, they really shouldn’t play after Pet Shop Boys.

Check out New Order’s Pet Shop Boys and Barclays Center setlists below, along with the fan-shot video of the show.

SETLIST: Pet Shop Boys @ Barclays Center 23/09/2022
Suburb
Can you forgive him?
Opportunities (Let’s earn a lot of money)
Where the streets have no name (I can’t take my eyes off you)
Lease
I don’t know what you want but I can’t give it to you anymore
Very difficult
Left to my own devices
domino dance
love comes fast
Losing the mind
You were always on my mind
Dreamland
Heart
It’s OK
vocal
It’s a sin

Bis:
West end girls
be boring

SETLIST: New Order @ Barclays Center 23/09/2022
Regret
The age of legal maturity
Ceremony
Transmission
Your silent face
The perfect kiss
Tutti Frutti
Guilt is a useless emotion
bizarre love triangle
Plastic
True Faith
Blue Monday
Temptation

Bis:
love will separate us