SAN FRANCISCO — Britain's Apollo Four Forty emphasized the rock side of their electro-rock sound in their first U.S. appearance Tuesday night at Bimbo's 365 Club.

A near-capacity crowd turned out for the eight-piece band, which put on a display of boundless energy while showcasing songs from its third album, Gettin' High on Your Own Supply (Jan. 25).

After an hour-long DJ set by turntablist Harry K, Apollo Four Forty kicked off their 80-minute show with the anthemic instrumental "Lost in Space (Theme)" (RealAudio excerpt), from the 1998 movie.

Vocalist Mary Mary bounded onstage for the next song, "Raw Power" — from 1997's Electro Glide in Blue — inviting the crowd to "shake your booty" and "make some f---ing noise!" Audience members happily did both.

Apollo Four Forty brought their music to life, backed by a full band, with founding members Noko on guitar and brothers Trevor and Howard Gray on synthesizers and samplers. Drummers Cliff Hewitt and Kodish deftly pounded out furious drum & bass beats on drum kits at either side of the stage while Mary Mary, Harry K and bassist Kenny Cougar hammed it up center-stage.

"Altamont Super-Highway Revisited" had jazzy bass, trumpet samples and a lyric copped from the Beastie Boys: "So whatcha, whatcha, whatcha want." Mary Mary's incessant bouncing incited the crowd to follow suit.

Grabbing a vocoder for the infectious, rock-boogie single "Stop the Rock" (RealAudio excerpt), which pounded even harder onstage thanks to the live drums, Mary Mary coaxed the crowd into more pogoing.

"Heart Go Boom" (RealAudio excerpt), the second single from Gettin' High, began with a laid-back calypso rhythm, exploded into frantic jungle beats and rock guitars, then melted back into a cool reggae rhythm.

Other Gettin' High tracks included the atmospheric "The Machine in the Ghost," with its trip-hoppy beat and screaming Moogs, and "Stadium Parking Lot," during which Harry K joined Mary Mary on the mic and the two tried their best to "make enough noise to wake the dead." It sounded like a lost Beastie Boys song.

Competing drum solos led into "Krupa" (RealAudio excerpt), built around a sample from 1930s and '40s big-band jazz drummer Gene Krupa. Its swing rhythms, trumpet blasts and Mary Mary's intermittent shouts of "Come on now," "Everybody in the house" and "San Franciscoooooo!" kept things jumping.

As fans clapped, whistled and stomped their feet, pleading for an encore, Mary Mary asked from backstage, "Do you want some more of these pasty, limey, ugly bastards?"

The band returned and rounded out the set with the 1997 single "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Dub," which borrows a riff from Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love." For one verse, they threw in a snippet of the guitar and basslines from the Cure's "A Forest."