Co-headliners Pet Shop Boys and New Order took over San Francisco’s Chase Center in front of a packed house to celebrate their “Unity Tour” on a balmy Tuesday night that must have had most of the crowd cutting off work early to make the show because by the time Paul Oakenfold kicked off his 6:30PM DJ set, the arena was packed and the Bay Area crowd was ready to dance.
New Order kicked things off on the massive stage with the ’90s and “Regret,” but quickly turned the way-back machine a little further into the past with “Age of Consent” as lasers blasted over the heads on the seated floor. Vocalist Bernard Sumner worked both the stage and the crowd, occasionally picking up a guitar and a melodica while the rest of the band tore through the synth-heavy tunes. Not surprisingly the Joy Division covers drew the largest crowd reaction with “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as the perfect mic-drop encore.
Paul Oakenfold took another turn in the DJ booth as the crew made quick work of the stage. With a LED screen lowered, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe took the stage dressed all in white, wearing masks that looked like oversized tuning forks and launched into “Suburbia” off their 1986 debut Please. Flanked by what looked like a pair of streetlights, the pair’s stoic demeanor stood in stark contrast to the crowd which was clearly pumped and ready to sing and dance.
That LED screen occasionally teased a glimpse of the backing band and was finally raised a few songs into he set to once again reveal the size of the stage while Tennant and Lowe made a quick wardrobe change before appearing again on a riser at the back of the stage. While Lowe remained expressionless behind his synths and various gizmos, Tennant paced the front of the stage while absolutely nailing his vocals.
The setlist of course covered the hits—it wouldn’t have been a PSB show without “Opportunities” and “West End Girls,” but the band also mixed things up with including U2’s “Where the Streets Have No Name” and Gwen McCrae’s “You Were Always on My Mind,” both of which weaved into a set which seemed to fly by as one song seamlessly melded into the next as the crowd appeared entranced by it all.
It’s mind blowing to think that these two bands which got their respective starts around 40 years ago can not only put on an epic show but still pull a massive crowd.
PAUL OAKENFOLD
NEW ORDER
PET SHOP BOYS
NEW ORDER SETLIST
Regret
Age of Consent
Ceremony
Transmission (Joy Division)
Your Silent Face
Superheated
Sub-culture
Bizarre Love Triangle
Vanishing Point
Plastic
True Faith
Blue Monday
Temptation
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)
PET SHOP BOYS SETLIST
Suburbia
Can You Forgive Her?
Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)
Rent
I Don’t Know What You Want but I Can’t Give It Any More
So Hard
Left to My Own Devices
Domino Dancing
Love Comes Quickly
Losing My Mind (Stephen Sondheim cover)
You Were Always on My Mind (Gwen McCrae cover)
Dreamland
Heart
It’s Alright (Sterling Void cover)
Vocal
It’s a Sin
West End Girls
Being Boring
