It seems the Interwebs really, really want Neil Tennant dead. Last month, the incredibly reputable Global Associated News reported the Pet Shop Boys frontman had died in a particularly grisly one-car accident which left him with such severe head trauma that it was surmised there would be a closed casket memorial service. GAN also killed off Justin Bieber and Justin Timberlake on the exact same stretch of highway in recent months.
Today, electronic music fans around the globe went into a tizzy as usually reputable Side-Line Magazine had Tennant in critical condition in a German hospital after suffering heart failure. The story was credited to the site’s unnamed “German correspondent,” but appears to have originated from a recently created — and since deleted — Twitter account.
“Don’t shoot the messenger, our source seems pretty valid,” tweeted Side-Line, while refusing to reveal in a personal message to Vanyaland exactly who or what the source actually was. Egg started to splatter on the site’s face when they pulled the story and posted on Facebook, “Hold the horses… after checking IP addresses now, we are starting to smell shit on this Neil Tennant story. Until we get word from the management, the story will be pulled offline.”
Furious fans of Tennant, who once sang, “”It’s fabulous you’re still around today,” were quick to call out Side-Line, who put up a meek defense for its shoddy journalism that included, “We have again contacted the management who does not answer any of our previous requests.”
NME was able to get ahold of someone in the know however, and to the bottom of things, contacting a Pet Shop Boys spokesperson who called the story, “completely untrue.”
Whew — so much for “Being Boring.”
The not-dead Tennant will be joined by bandmate Chris Lowe for a Stateside jaunt this spring which includes a stop at Coachella in April in support of last year’s stellar Electric album.
Here he is, asking a valid question:
Pet Shop Boys Tour Dates
April 8th – Fox Theater (Oakland, California)
April 11th – Majestic Ventura Theater (Ventura, California)
April 12th – Coachella (Indio, California)
April 15th – The Majestic Theatre (Dallas, Texas)
April 16th – ACL live at the Moody Theater (Austin, Texas)
April 18th – Comerica Theatre (Phoenix, Arizona)
April 19th – Coachella (Indio, California)
April 23rd – Moogfest (Asheville, North Carolina)
April 25th – Revel Casino Hotel: Ovation Hall (Atlantic City, New Jersey)
April 26th – Terminal 5 (New York)
