Polysics, Double Door, Chicago

Screeching high above the lively Wednesday night Double Door crowd, Polysics’ ever-animated frontman Hiro Hayashi excitedly addresses the room.

“Chicago you have so much snow!”

The venue screams back.

“But Polysics are going to melt the snow! Poysics are going to melt all the snow in America!”

Judging by the furiously contagious energy Polysics kick up from that point forward no one in attendance would have been surprised to find themselves walking home in puddles.

To describe Polysics as a relentless live act would be an immense understatement and a considerable insult. From the moment the band take the stage with ‘P!’ any thought of cross-armed foot stamping evening goes right out the window. Whether keyboardist Kayo is calling for arms up by shaking golden pom-poms on ‘Golden Peach’ or Hiro is leading the crowd in a Japanese shout back of “Toisu! Toisu! Toisu!” the venue of diehards and Poylsics newbies never miss a beat in this J-Punk Rocky Horror-type participatory event.

The night’s impressively fast paced setlist included notable highlights with the glitch-infused robo-punk thrash of “Beat Flash” and the tongue twisting gibberish of “Bero Bero.” However, the song of the evening that best summarized the controlled chaos and electro-infused rock riffing that is Poysics was unquestionably found in “Rocket.” Hiro led the crowd in a side-to-side slow-motion spirit finger wave during the slower thumping electro trills of the track that then instantly turned into a sweaty head-banging thrash once the rest of the band entered in with the chaotically shouted chorus.

What really sets Polysics a cut above other live acts is that when most bands would begin to show signs of fatigue or toss the fans a quiet number Polysics rally on with machine gun consistency straight through their encore. The final song of the night, a closeout improvised jam of ‘Buggie Techinica’, rocks so hard with Hiro’s guitar headstock theremin solo and Fumi and Masashi’s crashing rhythm section the floors literally bow with excitement.

Whether in an arena or at a local pub-club Polysics are not to be missed. Their ‘technicolor pogo punk’ assault on a venue is a rare and exciting spectacle; the type of band that make onlookers jealous.