Pet Shop Boys: Radio City Music Hall, New York NY

UNLESS ELVIS Presley reappears in Las Vegas, the curiosity and expectations that preceded the Pet Shop Boys' first American tour are unlikely to be equaled soon. After refusing to tour for so long and expressing their contempt for rock-concert rituals epitomized by Bruce Springsteen's manly endurance events, this British duo faced a formidable challenge: how to impress a legion of fans prone to staying at home and watching MTV. Their solution was to amplify the eclecticism that has become a postmodern cliché, to combine ideas from Twin Peaks and Las Vegas, Les Miserables and Car Wash, Robert Wilson'smultimedia theater and the Ice Capades, and set a new standard for pop flamboyance and grandiosity.