Bringing Puck To The Big Stage
Nottingham’s Rock City isn’t the type of venue the Polar Bear Club are used to playing. Crammed with a punk ethos that pulses through their veins, everything about the setting from the barriers, prohibiting in your face interaction with the heaving masses, to the sheer size of the crowd, doesn’t fit the traditional punk show code but having been on the road with the Gaslight Anthem for the best part of five weeks now, these New Yorkers are getting used to their surroundings. The venue may not be punk rock, but these guys have the attitude and the songs to stop that being a problem.
Overwhelmingly energetic, PBC blaze across the stage with relentless enthusiasm in their aim to inject life into the Nottingham crowd, armed with the chugging riffage juggernaut of ‘Parked In The Parking Lot’, that even manages to raise some fists from the crowd as infectious gang chants mark its climax. Reluctant to ease off the accelerator even for a brief respite, PBC keep chat to a minimum, offering the obligatory shout out to the rest of the bands that tonight actually ooze sincerity, as the comradery of the tour has clearly captured all, making the band’s final night with Gaslight Anthem and Frank Turner tinged with sadness. But this is post hardcore punk, there’s no time to dwell on things and as PBC bring their set to a fitting adrenaline packed close, everyone rammed inside Rock City are having just as much fun as the six guys in the spotlight bringing their punk roots to the big stage.