archive.org/de... I do not own this footage but I thought it would be nice if more people could see this in better quality. If the original uploader wants me to put it down, I will do it of course!
The full drama is recounted between pages 74 - 91 of “Pet Shop Boys vs. America” book: The boys are booked to appear on the 'tonight show' and perform two songs - 'streets' and 'seriously'. chris is very worried beforehand and calls the shows director to ensure that despite the fact that they'll be performing with two dancers, jj belle and scott davidson, it is made clear that the psb are a duo. the show is recorded in real time; chris can see one of the camera monitors as they perform 'streets' and to his mounting horror and anger, realises that the cameras have barely looked at him. feeling totally stitched up, he walks off stage mid song. neil is left to continue the song minus chris. he is interviewed by jay leno alone. chris refuses to perform 'seriously' until they reshoot 'steets'. realising this isn't going to happen, chris leaves the studio.
I don't see any primmadonna stuff I see a very great example of how U.S.A. television used to treat so disrespectful with the PSB so if you read all the story with deatil you'll see he does't went any far...
@@andrestapia8312 Oh please dude. I've been a fan of PSB from day one. Where did pretty much half of their money came from? The U.S. Despite the country being infamous for pushing one hit wonders the PSB has always been successful here. Chris could have swallowed his pride and be respectful to the public who came to see them and those watching on TV ( like myself ). If they didn't want Scott Davidson and JJ Bell to be showcased they could have said "leave them out" completely. They'd been around since 1985 so it's not like people didn't know they were a duo. Not being mean btw. Just my humble opinion😊
Poor Neil was so nervous and angry after the incident. It was one of the 2 times he actually thought about quitting. He went back to the hotel and the next day Chris appeared with Peter Andreas and didn’t even talked about it, just pretended it never happened.
@DonJuanDM Chris stormed off the performance because he was annoyed the cameras were not giving him enough limelight. Neil and the rest of the crew had to carry on as normal and Neil even had to be interviewed alone and was clearly embarrassed.
Oh wow, what a shit show. From the dancers falling and mangling their steps to Chris ostensibly crossing the whole stage mid-song... I felt for Neil, mainly, watching this. The look of distress on his face at the end of the song...He had to do the interview alone after that... I had read about this in the Chris Heath Book but had never actually seen the video. Thanks for posting this !
the way he says we're off to San Francisco after Jay Leno mentions talking about sex. I can see why people thought it was obvious NT is gay even though he hadn't came out at that stage.
Dancers falling, Chris leaving, a bombed attempt at humour with the "not ecologically sound" to have a snake on your hat, Leno not knowing they've already toured in '89... just when you think it can't get any worse, there's Shelley Winters trying to help, asking about a Pet Shop Boys play that she saw. I saw this as a young teenager on my TV and when I saw Chris leave I just thought it was Chris being Chris but I was just so awestruck to see them live on my TV that I didn't notice what an overall trainwreck this whole thing was. Also, can't tell 100% but is that Neil saying "whew, sorry about that" to Leno at the very end?
I wonder if this was his idea by the way. most of the cover versions are. but yeah, clearly they mustn't even know he's the 2nd member of the 2 piece band. hardly show him I feel for Neil, you can see in his body language he gets concerned and even messes up a line. Chris used to do these walk outs fairly regularly in these earlier days.
@@elenatria from the book Pet Shop Boys vs.America. “It is the fourth time Chris has done something of this sort: he walked off the ‘Rent’ video in 1987, off the stage at the Tokyo Budokan in 1989 and at the end of Wogan in 1990.”
Neil is just so proper he’s absolutely gorgeous I love the way he carries himself . Just seen them twice Royal opera house loved them for 40 odd years 💙💙
thanks for uploading, even if it's already on youtube this fresh higher quality rip is very welcome. awkward performance with Chris' hissy fit but I like the choreography and it's one of my fave songs. nice novelty of seeing them on a well known american talk show, too. you don't get much of that.
@@khv_dv_jungle Jajajajaj , no ,it wasn’t that Is just because he felt ignored by the Cameras , so he left the stage and went to the Hotel. The cameras were always on Neil Jajajaja 🤣
6:05 what is he holding lol. is that a long box CD? I've just found about those the other day, apparently there was a phase where CDs were sold but had to fit in 12" vinyl record places so they just made the CD case 3 times longer.
Ya they were popular in about 1989-92. In fact I had Behavior in the long box myself. Not sure if it was because of taller record bins but just generally having them be more substantial and sticking out in bins versus them later with the all plastic holders that were inserted with metal detection for anti-theft.
@@rediscoveryrecords1348 The purpose of the longboxes was also to avoid theft : CDs being much smaller than LPs they were easier to steal. And the trend didn't start in '89, I have many 1987 CDs in longbox format.
Chris is a maximalist, and that's right. If it were otherwise, it would not be PSB Their attention is focused on the person. About respect for individuality. And it can't be sold. Since you will sell Yourself. These are high-level people. And they want to be considered, even if they are in their underpants on stage. Their creativity is far from just entertainment
I'm not sure that all of the awkwardness of the interview is due to what Chris did. Jay Leno seems like he doesn't know how to talk to British people lol. His interview with Peter Gabriel was really similar to this in awkwardness haha.. Brits are very quiet and dry when they crack jokes and Jay doesn't know how to work with it.
I never knew the story of Chris Lowe storming off and being so upset over not being featured on camera. To me its so unlike Chris to be bothered by that. I'm sure his attitude and "BEHAVIOUR" damaged Pet Shop Boys ability to get on future American talk shows. Chris should've realized that it wasn't personal and that The Tonight Show director probably chose the shots he felt were the most dynamic with of course Neil and his singing being of #1 importance. Chris should always know THE SHOW MUST GO ON. I'm sure he NEVER behaved so poorly again. Not coming back for the 2nd song was embarrassing for Neil, the others on stage and Jay Leno. Chris was the epitome of unprofessional that night. So so terrible.
I still don't know why there was a second keyboardist or you can ask what does Chris exactly play on the keyboards? The music didn't sound any different when he walked off stage.
Scott(second keyboardist) did all the playing during this tour. Chris just mimed as he usually did. it wasn't until the Release tour where he actually started to play keyboards live.
@@xiaoxia5 don' T think so, he 's always played live; for example take a look at the middle-bit of Its a sin in the 1989 tour or the orchestra bits of always on my mind in the Performance tour, he's clearly playing live.
@@ramonriupaul8089 Chris actually told me he has always had a hard time remembering his keyboard parts. hence why you saw him with sheet music during the Release era while performing live. i had the same keyboard midi controller as Chris for the 1989 shows, and the Performance shows. in some shots you can see the keyboard is not even on. there's also a mention in the Performance Tour program that he didn't even want to play a single note during that show. he also makes a joke about miming the keyboard parts in the Somewhere Savoy Theatre BTS footage.
@@xiaoxia5 I've gotten shit on everytime I mention that Chris doesn't always play live. I don't have anything against him doing it. I play the keyboard myself, I know how tiring and stressful it can be to play for hours on end while trying to remember the notes to each song. Nobody is perfect.
@@xiaoxia5 Nahh, Have to disagree here... I was front row at the performance tour, the keytar thing he used had a massive radio transmitter strapped to the back of it, so it was by no means a prop. Chris jokes about it for the most part sarcastically as most people assume he mimes even during live shows
Chris refused to perform Seriously unless Streets could be redone which it couldn't. So he simply fucked off. You can actually see Neil apologising to Jay at the end there but in all fairness, Chris was right to be pissed.
Haven't you seen/heard about this yet? This is partly why PSB were seen to have bombed in the US, and when they had a blazing row that nearly split them up. The boys had gone over the performance with production and camera angles and time was very much agreed upon...then the show royally fucked up. Camera time was to be equal. You'll see that until the dancers appear, the camera avoids Chris totally. He could see it on the monitor so mid song was basically like "Fuck this, I'm outta here". Neil agreed with him but was pissed that he walked off so the two of them had a huge row back at the hotel that had them on the verge of splitting. It's a rather famous moment where fans are always after the footage as this is the clearest I've seen.
@@huntress2538 I'm a relatively new PSB fan, could you give us a source for their row and how they came close to splitting up? Is it mentioned in a book?
Какого лешего здесь происходит? 2:26 Сначала два польских гусара в шляпах устроили дебош в прямом эфире 2:40 Потом Крис взял у тупо свалил от греха подальше с этого цирка 4:34 Видя, что ситуация накаляется, Нил полез целоваться к посторонней даме в годах 5:41 Ну а в конце марлезонского балета мадмуазель стала пристовать к Нилу, чтобы он сбацал что-нибудь в духе PSB
Chris being a diva again. Shock. Can’t stay around to support his band mate when the direction isn’t to his liking, throws a strip and walks off. Done it at least 4 times.
Anyone defending Chrisfor walking off is out of their small skull. Can you imagine anyone saying they want to redo a performance in front of a live audience because they were not shown enough in the cameras? Please
Actually, re-doing the musical performances is not uncommon for these talk shows. I've read this from people who have been in the audience for these talk shows, and I've also heard Stephen Colbert talking about it in an interview. It isn't a big deal at all, I dont know why the Tonight Show wouldn't have just let them do it again.
That said, it does seem like a shitty thing to do to Neil while he's performing, so I'm not necessarily defending Chris here, just point out that re-taping the song shouldn't have been an issue.
