After hitting Brooklyn on Friday, New Order and Pet Shop Boys' Unity Tour returned to NYC on Wednesday (9/28) at Manhattan's Madison Square Garden. Photos by Ellen Qbertplaya are in this post.
Flipping things from the Brooklyn show, New Order went first, walking out to Wagner's "Das Rheingold: Vorspiel" and delivering a solid set of classics and a few newer songs. For fans who went to both shows, New Order switched up the setlist a little, giving MSG 2021 single "Be a Rebel," "Sub-Culture" and great Technique deep cut "Vanishing Point" alongside tour standards "Regret," "Age of Consent," "Your Silent Face," Bizarre Love Triangle," True Faith, "Blue Monday" and "Temptation." They saved Joy Division for the encore, playing "Transmission" and finishing with "Love Will Tear Us Apart."
Pet Shop Boys performed the same spectacular, tightly edited, highly choreographed, eye-popping show they've been doing the whole tour, which plays almost like an amazing jukebox musical that never bothers with any silly connective plot, just classics like "West End Girls," "It's A Sin," "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," "Rent," "Domino Dancing," and their covers of "Always on My Mind" and "Where the Streets Have No Names," all with maximum razzle dazzle and panache.
Read our review of the their Brooklyn show here.
DJ Paul Oakenfold warmed the crowd up and kept them entertained between New Order and Pet Shop Boys. Check out setlists and fan-shot video from MSG, along with more pics, below.
From there the Unity Tour hits Chicago, Minneapolis, LA for two shows at Hollywood Bowl, San Francisco, Seattle, and Vancouver. Remaining dates are listed below.
SETLIST: New Order @ Madison Square Garden 9/28/2022 Regret Age of Consent Ceremony Your Silent Face Be a Rebel Subculture Bizarre Love Triangle Vanishing Point Plastic True Faith Blue Monday Temptation
Encore: Transmission Love Will Tear Us Apart
SETLIST: Pet Shop Boys @ Madison Square Garden 9/28/2022 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 You Were Always on My Mind Dreamland Heart It's Alright Vocal It's a Sin
Encore: West End Girls Being Boring
PET SHOP BOYS / NEW ORDER - THE UNITY TOUR 2022 September 30—Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island—Chicago, IL October 2—The Armory—Minneapolis, MN October 7—Hollywood Bowl—Los Angeles, CA October 8—Hollywood Bowl—Los Angeles, CA October 12—Chase Center—San Francisco, CA October 14—Climate Pledge Arena—Seattle, WA October 16—Rogers Arena—Vancouver, BC
