Live Review: Pet Shop Boys, Presets

Let's get one thing straight. In this country alone, without Pet Shop Boys there would be no Gypsy & The Cat, Empire Of The Sun and certainly no Presets, who cite the British electronic duo as their chief source of influence. Fittingly they opened for Pet Shop Boys, creating a highly charged atmosphere that served as the perfect introduction to the London lads taking stage to remind Sydney audiences just why they still remain so important on the electronic soundscape.

Opening to thunderous applause with more recent numbers the Pet Shops Boys gathered momentum with back-up dancers jostling for supremacy and numerous theatrical costume changes. The crowd's excitement was unable to be contained by older tracks like Suburbia and I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing, peaking with the familiar lyrics of West End Girls – “sometimes you're better off dead” – sung pitch perfect, with Neil Tennant's gentle inflexion and faultless posture demonstrating the band's unique formula of politeness and sensitivity that has so successfully defined their take on pop music over the past four decades.  
The melancholy lyrics unable to keep down the fervently-charged energiser, Always On My Mind, the crowd embraced yet another favourite as lights and lasers shot across the floor upstaged only by the giant screen behind them projecting images of previous albums as the giant audio and visual spectacular showed no sign of letting up. In no small part the venue choice was perfect. The large open arena-like feel of Redfern's Carriage Works packing a full crowd proves what a great venue for concerts it offers Sydney.
Dressed in orange jackets the pair returned, backed by dancers wearing large, pointed-coned novelty hats – a throwback to the orange-themed headwear used in the album art of Very. Go West resonated with a large section of the crowd, who were clapping and cheering as cannons of confetti shot over the astonished heads of satisfied onlookers.

Slowing down for the smooth and seductive intro of Being Boring, and always composed, Tennant sang into his mic on one side of the stage while metres away on the other, pokerfaced Chris Lowe, in trademark cap, effortlessly hit the keyboards; they proved inseparable nonetheless.

Ending with It's Alright and despite a riveting two-hour performance that finished at 11pm the single complaint of the show was the absence of many more Pet Shop Boys classics that could have been played well into the night. Pet Shops Boys – still got it.