Polar Bear Club at Leeds Festival 2012
Polar Bear Club play a brand of energetic punk which is matched by a fiery performance despite the fact they drove all night to get here from Germany. An emotive rendition of I'll Never Leave New York is delivered by Jimmy Stadt's throatily sung vocals. He proves to us all just how easy it is to be a frontman at a festival such as Leeds claiming you just have to shout at the audience and they scream back at you, before doing just that, creating an 'I told you so' moment. Another amusing moment he provides in between his jumping around the stage and conducting the band is when he swings he vocal microphone like a baseball bat. Chris Browne commands a nice clean guitar tone and when he palm mutes his guitar for the build ups, the full bodied sound that emanates draws you in.
As fists are raised in the air to great Living Saints I can only assume that the majority of the audience have witnessed the stunning, highly creative music video that accompanies it. It truly merits this anthem about friendship such a buoyant sing-a-long. It's a good thing they have left themselves somewhere to go, that place is Most Miserable Life, taking us all the way back to their debut EP The Redder, the Better. This is the last song in their career spanning set which has impassioned lyrics "we fucked our ears, we fucked our throats, screaming for the sake of what we love most" followed by simple "woahs" before they charge at a blistering speed into "we are the fired hearts".
I would wholeheartedly recommend checking them out at a small club venue near you to witness a passionate punk rock performance up close and personal. They are on tour in the UK in September and if you cannot make one of these dates, make certain to view the incredible aforementioned Living Saints video.