BOSTON — For all those pop lovers who have been shedding tears waiting for the next Tears for Fears record, stop your sobbing.

The British technopop duo that topped the charts in the 1980s with the Reagan Era classics “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Shout” are back and they sound better than ever.

And while they don’t rule the world, MTV or the fickle radio airwaves anymore, Tears for Fears ruled over a legion of 5,000 adoring fans at the Leader Bank Pavilion Wednesday night.

Tears for Fears — singer-guitarist Roland Orzabal and singer-bassist Curt Smith — delivered a stellar, nearly three-hour, 19-song set that included a three-song encore.

Despite both members being 60 (with Smith turning 61 this Friday), Orzabal and Smith haven’t lost their youthful energy, shared chemistry and strong voices. In fact, I don’t remember Tears for Fears ever sounding this good in their ‘80s heyday. They sounded great Wednesday night.

Strumming an acoustic guitar, Orzabal serenaded the crowd with the beautiful ballad, “No Small Thing,” the first of seven tracks from Tears for Fears’ latest, “The Tipping Point,” the duo’s first album of new material in almost two decades. Despite its subtle beginning, “No Small Thing” erupted into a potent and powerful arena rock anthem.

With the colored stage lights swirling in sync with the percolating rhythms, Orzabal and Smith joined forces on the title track on the duo’s latest. Played live, the new release often sounds like an introspective Pink Floyd record in which the protagonist is haunted by guilt, grief and ghosts while the arrangements are fleshed out by the two artists trading off lead vocals and sharing harmonies.  

Orzabal, who now has white stringy hair and a matching scruffy beard, joked that he woke up one day and looked like Gandalf from “The Lord of the Rings” (even though I thought Orzabal looked more like a cross between Arlo Guthrie and Dave Grohl), while Smith, despite a few lines on his face and patches of gray on his cropped hair, looked very close to his youthful ‘80s self.

Both wore black, with Orzabal wearing a buttoned, long-sleeve shirt and Smith sporting a golf shirt. While both sounded great, Orzabal had a much stronger voice but Smith had the distinction of singing lead on more hits.

After burning off two new numbers, Orzabal, who abandoned his acoustic guitar for an electric, revealed that it was a “very special night” because he recently married a beautiful woman whose family has four generations living in Massachusetts and he has to make a good impression to a few cousins in the audience, as well as his in-laws.

Not only did Smith take center stage for the evening’s third number, he delivered one of the band’s biggest and most beloved hits, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” The song still sounds spectacular.

Showing that they have plenty of confidence in the new album despite the crowd’s apparent lack of familiarity with it, Tears for Fears delivered the ‘80s chart-topper early in the set when a less self-assured artist with a similar hit would have waited to the end of the set or the encore.

If there were still a few stragglers who had their keesters glued to their seats prior to “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” they sprang up as soon as they recognized the opening notes and began to sing along.

In case the Paul McCartney influence on Tears for Fears wasn’t obvious, Orzabal shot in a snippet of Wings’ innocuous pop hit “Let ‘Em In” while performing the wonderfully arranged “Secret World.”

Tears for Fears got all Sgt. Peppery as they achieved Beatlesesque splendor with 1989’s flower power anthem “Sowing the Seeds of Love.” Owing a lot to the Beatles’ “All You Need Is Love,” Orzabal belted out the song’s positive, hippie message that anything is possible with love on this stunning showstopper.

After sowing, Tears for Fears went tipping with four new tracks — the melancholic “Long, Long, Long Time,” the female empowerment anthem “Break the Man,” the dark and foreboding “My Demons” and redemptive ode “River of Mercy.” Although a lot of audience members seemed unfamiliar with the new tunes, the numbers were all emotionally complex and sonically compelling with their sweeping arrangements and soaring vocals.

Then it got all dark, or should I say all “Donnie Darko,” for 1983’s “Mad World,” easily the best Tears for Fears song that never charted in the U.S. This anxiety-ridden ditty, inspired by the teachings of "Primal Scream" psychologist  Arthur Janov, got a resurgence of popularity due to the Michael Andrews and Gary Jules’ cover in the film “Donnie Darko,” which even charted better than the original. But Smith’s unflinchingly urgent and incredibly intense performance was enough to make you forget about the cover version by the two other guys.

Born the year Tears for Fears’ debut album, “The Hurting,” was released, Californian preacher-daughter-turned-powerhouse-singer and platinum-selling songwriter Lauren Evans not only took center stage for two stunning numbers (the delicate ballad “Suffer the Children” and soul-cleansing scorcher “Woman in Chains”), she temporarily stole the show.

Tears for Fears confidently trekked onto Allman’s Brothers' territory with the irresistible outlaw opus/extended jam, “Badman’s Song.” While Tears for Fears' backing band was stellar all night, guitarist Charlton Pettus, drummer Jamie Wollam, keyboardist Doug Petty and, once again, Evans all shined in this rousing number that was at times soulful, jazzy, bluesy and southern rock, and all times incredible.

The No. 3 hit “Head Over Heels” closed out the main set with arguably Orzabal’s best vocals of the night. When the singer extended the closing words “time flies,” not only did it seem like time stopped but it magically went back 35 years.

The encore included the chart-topping, primal scream ditty “Shout,” which, as one would expect, had everyone shout, shout, shouting along with the song.

While Tears for Fears was enough to cause tears of joys, the opening act, Garbage, a headliner in their own right, put on a rock-solid hour set that was an added bonus.

Wearing a white jumpsuit with pink day-glow sleeves that looked like a cross between Buzz Lightyear’s space skivvies and Las Vegas-era Elvis stage get-up, Shirley Manson — sporting a gravity-defying, carrot-top ponytail, raccoon eye makeup and cherry red lipstick that dramatically contrasted with her pasty white skin — was a bundle of nervous energy and raw emotions.

While her vulnerability is as riveting as her tough-as-nails exterior, Manson — who ran laps around her bandmates and slinked into the audience once — whipped the early arrivals into a frenzy as she tore up the stage. 

In addition to Garbage’s signature hits “Stupid Girl,” “Queer,” “Only Happy When It Rains” and the most underrated James Bond theme song to date, “The World Is Not Enough,” Manson inserted an industrial strength snippet of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” in “Wicked Ways” and mustered up her inner Stevie Nicks for an abbreviated version of Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams” meshed with Garbage’s “You Look So Fine.”