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  • FROM THE WEST END TO THE WEST COAST,PET SHOP BOYS DEBUT AT HOLLYWOOD BOWL
  • Sep. 27, 2007
  • LADYTRON ALSO MAKES DEBUT AND OPENS THE SHOW

    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, AT 7:30 PM

    Concert generously sponsored by WaMu

    British dance-pop duo Pet Shop Boys makes a special one-night-only stateside appearance at the Hollywood Bowl on Thursday, September 27, at 7:30 pm. In the midst of a European tour, this Bowl debut is their only U.S. appearance. Also jumping across the pond for their Bowl debut is electro-pop group Ladytron.

    Neil Tennant and Christopher Lowe met by chance in an electronics shop 26 years ago. A common interest in dance music led to a quick friendship, and they soon began to create music together as Pet Shop Boys. The pair has since produced 31 albums and 55 singles, and has altogether defined the danceable synth-pop genre. Their infectious synthesizer-based sound and drum machine beats gained worldwide attention with the release of "West End Girls" in 1985. Subsequent hit singles followed such as "What Have I Done to Deserve This," "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)," "Suburbia," "It's a Sin," and "Domino Dancing." Pet Shop Boys returned to the charts in 2006 with the release of their latest studio album, Fundamental, which also received Grammy awards for Best Electronic Dance Album and Best Dance Recording ("I'm With Stupid").

    In 1999, the same year Pet Shop Boys released Nightlife, Ladytron formed in Liverpool. Currently on tour in support of their critically acclaimed 2005 release Witching Hour, Ladytron has steadily built a worldwide audience, and performed to sold out crowds from coast to coast in North America. Ladytron performs their synth-drenched pop songs in a full live show for their Hollywood Bowl debut.

    PET SHOP BOYS released Fundamental, their ninth studio album, on Parlophone Records on May 22, 2006. The album reunites Pet Shop Boys with legendary producer Trevor Horn, who first worked with them on the seminal "Left To My Own Devices" in 1988. Fundamental was recorded in London and features 12 tracks - 11 new Tennant/Lowe compositions and one track, "Numb," written by Diane Warren. Advance copies of the album have seen it heralded as a masterpiece in a variety of publications. NME said, "The electro godfathers diss ID cards and the war on terror over thunderous Trevor Horn production on their best album for over a decade." The Sun said, "Their forthcoming album Fundamental is brilliant." On May 8th the single "I'm With Stupid," a song inspired by the relationship between Tony Blair and George Bush, was released. In the autumn, the distinguished art book publishers Thames and Hudson will publish "Pet Shop Boys Catalogue," a complete visual and design history of the duo. Pet Shop Boys recently remixed Madonna's number-one single 'Sorry' with Neil Tennant adding vocals.

    LADYTRON's third album, Witching Hour, fizzes and sparks with the band's own idiosyncratic charms. Witching Hour is an album that reaches further than its predecessors - 604 and Light & Magic. It's the first to give a truly rounded insight into what Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu are all about. They can still make music starched and synthetic, cool and collected, but, unlike its predecessors, Witching Hour is wild and unstable; a synth-pop record which rages with a new unbridled energy. Their critically lauded 2001 debut album 604 spawned a glut of imitators obsessing over vintage synths and asymmetric haircuts, yet Ladytron always stood apart. Their darker late 2002 release Light & Magic, featuring the worldwide cult hit "Seventeen," was toured around the globe for 12 months. Witching Hour, a striking set of pop songs, is the sound of an electronic band rediscovering their left-field indie roots, experimenting and enlarging their palette of sound.

    One of the largest natural amphitheaters in the world, with a seating capacity of nearly 18,000, the HOLLYWOOD BOWL has been the summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic since its official opening in 1922, and in 1991 gave its name to the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, a resident ensemble that has filled a special niche in the musical life of Southern California. The 2004 season introduced audiences to a revitalized Hollywood Bowl, featuring a newly-constructed shell and stage and the addition of four stadium screens enhancing stage views in the venue. To this day, $1 buys a seat at the top of the Bowl for many of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's concerts. While the Bowl is best known for its sizzling summer nights, during the day California's youngest patrons enjoy "SummerSounds: Music for Kids at the Hollywood Bowl," the Southland's most popular summer arts festival for children, now in its 39th season. Attendance figures over the past several decades have soared: in 1980 the Bowl first topped the half-million mark and close to one million admissions have been recorded. In February 2007, the Hollywood Bowl was named Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue for the third year in a row at the 18th Annual Pollstar Concert Industry Awards; the Bowl's summer music festival has become as much a part of a Southern California summer as beaches and barbecues, the Dodgers, and Disneyland.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 at 7:30 PM

    HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 2301 N. Highland Ave. in Hollywood

    In order of appearance:

    LADYTRON

    PET SHOP BOYS

    Concert generously sponsored by WaMu

    Tickets ($20 - $100) are on sale now at HollywoodBowl.com, at the Hollywood Bowl Box Office (Tuesday - Saturday, 12 p.m. - 6 p.m.), or by calling Ticketmaster at 213.480.3232, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Groups of 10 or more may be eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 323.850.2050 for further details. For general information or to request a brochure, call 323.850.2000.

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  • Contact:

    Adam Crane, acrane@laphil.org, 213.972.3034; Lisa Bellamore, lbellamore@laphil.org, 213.972.3689; For photos: 213.972.3034