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I finally got round to reading the 2023 edition of the Pet Shop Boys Annually book, in which they offer some insights into The Unity Tour.
It was originally Chris Lowe's idea: "I just thought it would be something I'd like to go and see. I thought it would be fun touring with them."
In early 2019, at the Pet Shop Boys' instigation, their agents spoke with New Order's agents. The feedback was enthusiastic, the principle agreed, and in due course a dinner in Manchester was arranged between the Pet Shop Boys and New Order's Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, as well as their respective managers.
One subject Chris remembers being discussed over dinner was whether they should explore playing a song together, and if so what that song would be. "We didn't come up with one" Chris says. "I suggested 'World in Motion'." While the seemingly obvious collaboration for this tour would have been "Getting Away with It", Neil pointed out that only 2 of the current 7 members of the two bands actually appeared on the original track. In any case, the idea of a collaboration was scrapped because neither group particularly wanted to have to hang around to make second appearences every night.
The tour's name, though, was a collaboration. Chris's initial proposal was that it be called "United". Bernard countered with "Unity".
Though they hadn't met until the work with Electronic, Neil remembers "We then met other members of New Order gradually. I remember once we all went over to Stephen and Gillian's farm for a barbecue, for instance. So that was very much the beginning of a friendship, which has continued for all these decades. It's always great to see them. Which goes back to what Chris was saying, of why we wanted to do it - because we thought it would be fun. And indeed it was fun."
There are plenty of anecdotes about the various dates on the tour, but I found this most interesting: At the end of the tour, everyone had dinner together in Vancouver. "And everyone agreed that they'd enjoyed it," says Neil. Consequently, there is a possibility that further Unity dates might happen. "I think we could say there is a prospect," says Neil. "There are discussions that are going to take place about doing further gigs."
"I hope we do," says Chris, "because it was a lot of fun".
"it felt like, says Neil, "to use our age-old word, an event. It felt like an event for us and for the audience."
"It wasn't," concludes Chris, "a disaster".
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