Polar States @ O2 Academy Liverpool - Review

Polar States @ O2 Academy Liverpool - Review

Toxteth based band Polar States are on the verge of great things. Getting set to record in LA and now on Radio 1's radar, they brought their brand of rock to their home town with an absolutely blistering set in front of a packed crowd, most of them singing along word for word.

When they started to play I thought the walls were going to crumble around us and it felt like my heart was pumping 2 feet in front of my chest.

Long Way Round hooked us in from the opening crunching riff, lead singer Paul Tong is an archetypal front man, sweeping the audience along with his powerful voice complimented by Josh Humphries cutting harmonies. Phill Gornall on bass and Dan Smith on drums complete the line up.

Chasing now has got that marching type beat, that really gets your adrenaline pumping. You get the feeling this band is fighting the corner of the masses, the little man. With their last single vines, which is essentially an ode to the poor, the whole place was chanting along . . .” if you want it then take it” clearly reference to social change. That theme is evident in all their songs, but where these guys pull it out the bag is their ability to get us thinking about these issues but disguised in raucous stomp along anthems.

Polar States are essentially a band that specialise in feel good songs, sometimes slightly reminiscent of The Killers but with Northern accents. Feel good songs that get you thinking about the state of the world we live in. that is no mean feat.

For a band that has only been in existence for 7 months it's phenomenal, their sound was almost too big for the 250 capacity venue and I can certainly see them supporting arena bands and doing the festival circuit. They would have no problem getting 20,000 chanting along with them.

I'm really looking forward to following their career. If you ever get to see them live grab it with both hands and get ready for a blistering set of pumping, relentless songs.

Review by Kevin Wall