Pet Shop Boys accept Legend Award at Attitude Awards 2026 from Sir Ian McKellen
Presenting their award was McKellen, who starred in their 1988 music video for ‘Heart’
By Aaron Sugg
The Pet Shop Boys took home the Legend Award, supported by Virgin Atlantic, at the Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards 2026, in partnership with M&S and electrified by Polestar.
Rising to fame with their breakout single ‘West End Girls’ in 1984, the Pet Shop Boys went on to soundtrack the decade with hits including ‘It’s a Sin’ and ‘Left to My Own Devices’.
Looking to the future, more than four decades into their career, the Pet Shop Boys continue to evolve, as fans await their forthcoming project, A Man From The Future, set to arrive on 9 October.
It’s this extraordinary legacy that makes the Pet Shop Boys such fitting recipients of the Legend Award – and it only felt right to have another legend present it to them.
Sir Ian McKellen welcomes the Pet Shop Boys to the stage
Actor Sir Ian McKellen took to the stage at London’s Roundhouse to introduce the pair: “A couple. A man and a woman? No. Two women? No. Two men… no! These legends are two boys? YES.”
Recalling the year he starred in the Pet Shop Boys song ‘Heart’, McKellen said: “1988 – the best year of my life – that’s the year I stopped hiding and came out. It’s also the year I met the two boys in question. My agent called: do you fancy being in a music video?”
“I wasn’t sure what a pet shop was, but I knew about boys, so I said yes. And that’s how I met Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant – recipients of this year’s Legend Award, supported by Virgin Atlantic.”
McKellen pays tribute to their work for the LGBTQ+ community
“Later that year, they appeared in a show I was involved in organising with other gay activists to raise money to finance Stonewall, which had just been founded to fight against the notorious Section 28. Before the Act – I think it was the first time they had ever performed live in public,” he said.
McKellen paid tribute to the Pet Shop Boys headlining the first Stonewall Equality Show at the London Palladium before performing at the Royal Albert Hall at the height of the campaign to equalise the age of consent for gay men. With their trademark wit and sly humour, they sang ‘I Am 16 Going on 17’ from The Sound of Music.
The Pet Shop Boys collected their award. Singer Neil Tennant said: “From the very beginning, we wanted to write electronic music that would make people want to think and dance at the same time. Meanwhile, the music created great euphoria, or alternatively provided solace if you arrived home alone.”
Pet Shop boys thank the “whole queer community”
Accepting their award, they thanked “the whole queer, trans and LGBTQ+ community” for the support they have given the Pet Shop Boys over the “past 40-plus years”.
“Your lives are our lives, and that’s something we try to express in our songs. Thank you for the inspiration. We are all legends. And of course, we’d like to thank all our musical and creative collaborators. Ian was one of them.”
The Pet Shop Boys were among several honourees at the 15th edition of the Attitude Awards. Donatella Versace, David Furnish, Michael Johnston and more were also recognised at the star-studded event.
The Attitude Awards 2026 issue is available on digital platforms and in print. Print copy available for pre-order here.