Fridae

The signs were not encouraging. By the time of the 8 o'clock curtain call, the Indoor Stadium was still half full. That Neil Tennant,48 , and Chris Lowe, 43, better known as the Pet Shop Boys had chosen to play here on a Monday night certainly did not help. The audience was a motley collection of diehard Petheads, expatriates and executives with many still bearing the grime of the workday - making it a rather ominous start to the night.

The Boys came on stage to the sound of polite applause at about quarter to 9, in front of a simple and stripped down backdrop. Supporting them was a back-to-basics band consisting of two guitarists, a percussionist and a programmer. The set opened with a version of their recent UK hit single Home And Dry, a rather apt homecoming song to mark their return to Singapore, and was quickly followed by Being Boring and Red Letter Day.

Then something clicked. It did not take long to see that the Pet Shop Boys were masters of their craft and were playing to a warm and appreciative group that knew each single word and nuance to their songs. By the time the set kicked into gear with Love Comes Quickly, and a seamless High-NRG romp through Domino Dancing ("a disco song"), New York City Boy and Always On My Mind, practically everybody in the stalls to the premier front row seats, were up on their feet. Granted that it felt like Mambo Jumbo night at times, but for those who have grown up with the tunes, it was a definitive moment, to say the least.

The pace slowed somewhat during their run through the songs from the Release album such as Birthday Boy, Love Is A Catastrophe, although their paean to rap star Eminem, The Night I Fell In Love, did raise a few chuckles. The latter tells the story of a homosexual boy meeting a famous rap star backstage at his concert and is surprised to discover he too is gay and ends up sleeping with him. The song, a thinly-veiled attack on Eminem and his homophobic lyrics, created quite a stir when the album was released earlier this year.

Otherwise it was a rousing greatest hits set through their 2 decade-long back catalogue (has it really been that long?) with I Get Along, Go West, West End Girls and U2's Where The Streets Have No Name, which Chris and Neil have forever claimed as one of their own. Ditto Can't Take My Eyes Off You.

The hour and a half long "unplugged" concert (or as unplugged as it would ever get for the Pet Shop Boys) culminated in a rousing encore which followed a version of Left To My Own Devices with the anthemic It's A Sin. No mean feat, as the crowd pleaser is really about a Catholic gay guilt trip and how one can grow beyond that, in spite of it all.

While the Pet Shop Boys have chosen to take a more open route in affiliating themselves with the community in recent times (Neil chose to come out in the British gay magazine Attitude on his 40th birthday), their best work - double entendres aside - has always been of universal appeal. They sing of love and dejection, loss and hope, self-discovery and friendship, and our very fragile humanity.

If the response of the predominantly straight audience is getting to go by, there is perhaps then, a moral behind this all. May we live to tell the tale one day.