FRESH from receiving their 'Godlike Geniuses' honour at last week’s NME awards, Pet Shop Boys opened their 'Super Tour' at Leeds Arena on Saturday.

With their impressive catalogue of perfect pop hits combined with theatrical, often bizarre stage shows a great evening’s entertainment was expected.

The duo started the evening with 'Inner Sanctum', emerging from two large white globes sporting odd, metallic headgear - Neil Tennant’s face visible, Chris Lowe’s hidden - to take their places at microphone and keyboards respectively.

'Opportunities' led into 'The Pop Kids', one of the highlights from 'Super'. This affectionate look back at lost youth comfortably matched any of the group’s past hits contradicting any suggestion that the group are a nostalgia act.

Let’s face it, any group that can forego playing hits like 'Rent', 'Being Boring', 'Suburbia' and 'What I Have Done To Deserve This' cannot be accused of being over-reliant on past successes.

Throughout the show, oldies like 'In The Night' took their place alongside new songs such as the vibrant 'Burn' during which the duo dispensed with their helmets and were joined by three additional musicians on percussion, keyboards and backing vocals.

Although the set did include a couple of weak spots where the pace flagged a little, most noticeably in new song 'The Dictator Decides', it was a winning start to the tour.

Closing the set with a glorious sequence of 'It’s A Sin', 'Left To My Own Devices', 'Go West', 'Domino Dancing' and 'Always On My Mind' gave the crowd had the perfect excuse to dance themselves crazy before heading into the night.

Dave Lawrence