"Their songs say more about human existence than most peoples entire careers.."

Being an institution is a dangerous business. By definition, The Rolling Stones, Cliff Richard, they're institutions : past-it has-beens dealing in nostalgia, walking museum pieces. A strange situation for the Pet Shop Boys as they have become practically an institution : a constant presence accepted by the mainstream, and thus, subverted into just another pop group.

But they will never be Just Another Pop Group. Tonights show - in support of their latest albums Fundamental and Concrete - is a rip roaring barrage of intelligent, sincere pop that taps into the very heart of the human experience. It's a curious place to be : to present a theatrical show of deeply choreographed dancers and impressive, understated visuals that create a cohesive thematic whole. Some bands do so in a way that just provides cool backdrops - but the Pet Shop Boys do so in a way that touches upon human life as a narrative in itself. Their songs - the aspirational demand of "Go West", the soft and regretful nostalgia of "Being Boring" - say more about human existence than the entire career of the useless Guy Ritchie or the slick but vaccous Timberlake.

From the opening, wry, "We're The Pet Shop Boys" it's clear we're in a different world. This is no mere 'gig', but something bigger and better and smarter. The set is light on newer material (just under a quarter of the set is taken from last years Fundamental), but shows the band are determindedly trying new things, exploring new areas, attempting to pave a road forward despite their glittering past that occasionally hangs around them like a millstone : the fans almost want this to be a nostalgic night back in 1993.

The band themselves too almost feel duty bound to perform a veritable Greatest Hits set. And this is exactly what it feels like : never more than one song away from a Rootin' Tootin' Smash Hit, the set is a dynamic and irresistible selection of simplistic, but never simple, pop music that distils all that is vital in mankind to a few short lines of verse and some plaintive melodies : even the curiously bland "Domino Dancing" becomes the sound of God's Own Disco. The more political songs - "I'm With Stupid" (a brilliant bitter song about the 'Special Relationship'), "Integral", "Rent", "Opportunities" and the pointed "Shopping" - comment upon the world we live in in a way that is never patronising. Understated humour is deftly employed to present the absurdity that is life under the microscope of this most insightful of acts.

The final strait of the set is the pop art moment in it's purest form : the disposable element of Pop combined with Art to form something clearly more than the sum of the parts - Music at the apex of it's powers that touches the heart, the soul, and the mind with humour and honesty. "Always On My Mind", "Where The Streets Have No name", "West End Girls", "So Hard", "It's A Sin" and "Go West" all tap into and express the human desire to escape, to move to the promised land, to break from of the constraints of society and convention and be free. The tear down the walls that hold us inside. The crowd become a mass of arms waving in joyful unison with the belief that maybe one day we will be free.

And that's the danger with being an institution. The Pet Shop Boys are clearly moving forward and avoiding being known as a nostalgic act, exploring new territories in their own universe. The pop world would be smaller and duller without their own, unique brand of pop that makes them one of the most vital acts on the planet today - existing outside of trends and always leading the way to a promised land. 

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