When he spoke to The Guide last week, Pet Shop Boys frontman Neil Tennant emphasised his love of combining music with theatricality.

And the Pandemonium tour, which came to Brighton last night, underlined how far that interest has come.

The set may have been based around hundreds of plain white cardboard boxes, but the simplicity of Es Devlin’s design was deceptive, as the cubes doubled for projection screens, provided props for the four-strong dance team and dramatically tumbled to the ground to introduce some of the duo’s biggest hits from their 25-year chart career.

The tour was to promote the pair’s new album, Yes, but the Pet Shop Boys were savvy enough to know that fans were there for the hits.

And from the opening Heart the audience was taken on a whirlwind tour through some of the biggest pop singles of the 1980s and early 1990s, ranging from their covers of Go West and Always On My Mind, to set-closer It’s A Sin and warmly welcomed encore West End Girls.

The structure of the show meant there was little room for spontaneity – the pair weren’t suddenly going to break into a request called out from the crowd.

But each section had been meticulously planned to ensure the show was scattered with high points, including a video duet with the ghost of Dusty Springfield, a cover of Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, mashed-up medleys of favourite tracks and a dinner- jacketed torch song section featuring fan favourite King’s Cross.