During fan-favorite single ‘Living Saints,’ Polar Bear Club lead singer Jimmy Stadt turned into a wild flail of frenzied limbs, rollicking around the stage and holding the microphone to the audience.

After the last of the guitar feedback died out, he carefully planted the microphone back into the stand, wiped the sweat from his drenched forehead and quietly thanked the crowd for its applause.

‘We play a lot of crappy shows, believe me,’ Stadt said, ‘So it means a lot to us to have such great shows at The Lost Horizon.’

A homecoming show of sorts for Polar Bear Club, a band that makes regular appearances at The Lost Horizon, the venue’s pit was small but spirited, packed with stage divers and crowd surfers who kept up a frenetic atmosphere Friday night.

The first band on the bill, Summer People, played an abbreviated set, flaunting bluesy vocals and a multiguitarist attack. The rockers from Upstate New York expressed their appreciation for the other bands on the tour.

‘It’s great to be able to play shows with such great people,’ said lead singer Alex Craver between songs.

Next up, Rochester pop-punk group, Such Gold, realigned the instruments onstage. The pit flooded with fans eager for a rowdier set. Sure enough, once the band started playing, the pit pushed forward to share the microphone with singer Ben Kotin.

After taking requests shouted from the crowd and deliberating with the rest of the band in a makeshift huddle, Kotin grabbed the microphone and launched into ‘Sycamore’ to a thunderous roar from the crowd.

Such Gold’s set caused the more energetic fans in the crowd to rush the stage and stage dive. Crowd surfing became rampant and relentless, refusing to stop for the entirety of the show.

Balance and Composure quickly followed up onstage with an emotionally driven set. Lead singer Jon Simmons commanded people in the steadily growing mosh pit to bang their heads. With only eight songs on the group’s set list, the stage dives dwindled. But the energy was still at a fever pitch once Fireworks, a pop-punk band from Michigan, took the stage.

The crowd surfing came back in full throttle during Fireworks’ set. One crowd surfer grabbed the microphone out of singer David Mackinder’s hand to sing a line from single ‘Detroit.’

Fans in the pit got a sneak preview of Polar Bear Club’s set when members from the band joined Fireworks onstage for the closer, ‘When We Stand on Each Other We Block Out the Sun.’ Mackinder, whose group was leaving the tour a day early, choked up when talking about his friends in Polar Bear Club.

‘These guys are some of our best friends,’ he said, ‘And doing this tour with them was some of the most fun we’ve ever had. We’ll miss it.’

Rounding out the night, headliner Polar Bear Club played a rambling set while interspersing witty banter with the crowd. Though the band mainly played songs from newest albums ‘Clash Battle Guilt Pride’ and ‘Chasing Hamburg,’ the rockers treated the crowd to rarer songs from the band’s earlier days.

The mosh pit became a tangle of flying arms and legs, not relenting until the last note of Polar Bear Club’s set had faded. Stadt personally tailored the set and pointed out the band members’ family and friends standing in the audience.

‘How long has it been since we played The Lost Horizon?’ Stadt asked, ‘Two years? It’s been too long. We love playing Syracuse, and it’s great to be back, as always.’

ervanrhe@syr.edu 

Published on October 16, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Erik: ervanrhe@syr.edu | @therealvandyman