Live Review: Polar Bear Club + Man Overboard - The Bowery, London (06/08/11)

The Bowery – formerly Fly Bar – was the setting for tonight’s show in very much the centre of the city. It’s the perfect club for tonight’s proceedings, the 150 capacity basement seems like it was designed for pop-punk quintet, Man Overboard.

I have to admit – not being the biggest fan of pop-punk – I’m probably the only writer at ATP! who hasn’t been spinning ‘Real Talk’ endlessly, and this was quite embarrassing as I watched them completely own the floor. The New Jersey lads were clearly delighted to be in the UK and their performance, which was of course high in energy and full of beaming smiles, was a master class in how to have some real fun on a Saturday night. This left the crowd perfectly warmed up for the night’s headliners.

Polar Bear Club stormed out with opener ‘Living Saints’, and from the very first chord the intensity didn’t falter for one second through the hour long show. The setting, heat and energy in the room only amplified the bands performance, which spanned both albums, producing highlights like ‘Boxes’, ‘Light Of Local Eyes’, ‘Drifting Thing’ and ‘Burned Out In A Jar’. Front man Jimmy Stadt effortlessly shifts from raspy shouts to smooth vocals, while driving the performance forward with a hurried intensity which only spurred the crowd on more to heave forward and make the space on the floor that much smaller for the band. In the same spirit as Man Overboard, PBC were overjoyed to be in London and were clearly treating the show as a warm up for their Sunday stint at this year's Hevy Festival – giving the crowd some old gems and a taste of a new album track.

After an hour the heat levels were verging on unbearable, but the New York quintet had just enough left in the tank to deliver ‘Our Ballads’, which brought a huge sing-a-long to end the show with the crowd, fists in air screaming: “Our songs should separate – all the girls, from the boys!”

Polar Bear Club stamped their mark on the London crowd and only built up the hype for the new release and tour that will accompany it. I’m just glad I was one of the few who couldn’t make it to Hevy, and got an almost overly intimate performance from a band that are going from strength to strength.

Connor O’Brien