West End Girls

Thursday, December 14, 2006

Last night, I went to see West End Girls, a Swedish pop duo. Their name says everything about them. They sing cover versions of Pet Shop Boys' songs. They dress like the Pet Shop Boys. They move like the Pet Shop Boys. Hell, I'd think it was the Pet Shop Boys on stage... if they were two Swedish teenage girls.



West End Girls

The clothes they wore were grey. This was not exciting. I wanted something more like the red PVC they wear on their myspace. They were not wearing red hard hats. They did sport sharp black bob wigs. This was somewhat more exciting.

They sang a number of songs, to an amused audience. The best songs were Always on my Mind and Suburbia. One West End Girl stayed behind the keyboard, plinking away with a sullen, straight face. The other West End Girl bopped about the stage singing, doing jerky dances which I can only assume Neil Tennant does or did. She's copying these because she's clearly an uber fangirl. She tries to maintain a straight, sullen face, but you can tell she's loving it.

It's all a bit strange, but I enjoyed it. Imagine X-Factor but, like, much better performers covering the Pet Shop Boys with girly poppier vocals, and slightly dancier music. I'm sure they're making some very clever statement about fandom and mimicry and post-modernism. There's something quite Japanese about their dress-up-and-be-the-Pet-Shop-Boys act. Overall West End Girls are quite original, even though they're singing covers, so hurrah for them and hurrah for another Swedish pop act playing gigs in London.

5 comments:

Jamie said...

You've gotta love those swedes! First we had the A-Teens doing Abba songs and now the West End Girls. I think I might launch myself as the official Shirley Clamp tribute! The nets are in a bucket of brown dye as we speak.

Anonymous said...

I need to give these girls a play, because I've never understood why I'm not massively keen on the Pet Shop Boys. Perhaps the woman's touch'll be the missing ingredients.

thedailygrindr said...

I saw 'em earlier in the year wearing red PVC, doc martens and hard hats in the super soaraway summer heat.

they're proper fans too - i spotted them before the gig wearing PSB tshirts. A dead giveaway, that.

Anonymous said...

Sharp hair, you say?

Adrian said...

Sharp hair indeed! Hurrah. Razor sharp, it was.