Saturday brought a quartet of rock acts as Muncie, Ind., natives The Retreads, local trio Hit Gone Bad, Heeby Jeebies and Chicago’s native sons The Tossers tore through Friends & Co. in a night devoted to unabashed rock.

The Retreads opened the show with a set comprised of loud, fast meat-and-potatoes hard rock.

Rolling through a scant 25- minute set, the band blazed through more than a dozen songs with nary a pause for superfluous crowd banter. To call the band’s music simplistic is a compliment as the twin guitar of Mike and Jon drive the band in the vein of AC/DC.

Instrumental trio Hit Gone Bad took the stage next. As the group limped through a set filled with as much guitar tuning as playing. Comprised of Scott Ducar on drums, Phil Manning on guitar and Dave Gierhahn on bass, the band is a mix of classic surf rock and instrumental guitar as Manning’s riffs propel the band alongside Ducar and Gierhahn’s lockstep rhythm section.

The Heeby Jeebies, like The Retreads, are basic, no nonsense rock. Also like The Retreads, the band packed as much music into a far-too-short set where its members wasted little time as the audience slowly began chanting for the night’s headliners.

It was clear halfway through the night the crowd was getting restless, as shouts of “bring out the Tossers” could be heard during each band change and occasionally between songs. Once the seven-piece finally took the stage just after midnight, the real show of the night could begin.

Comprised of seven members, including the brothers Duggins on mandolin and tin whistle, respectively, along with Dan Shaw on bass and accordion, Clay Hansen on banjo, Mike Pawula on guitar, Becca Manthe on fiddle and the single-monikered Bones on drums, the Tossers combine Irish folk music, political lyrics and punk attitude.

Hearing the Tossers’ records simply doesn’t do the band justice. The group’s music is louder, harder and far more raucous live than on any album.

Tunes like the show’s opener “Irish Whiskey” deftly combine the drinking, merrymaking and traditional Irish aesthetic for which the group has become known. Likewise, songs like “Nantucket Girls Song” and “Faraway” are brimming with the Tossers’ beautiful combination of mandolin, fiddle and tin whistle accompaniment, as Pawula’s guitar and Shaw’s bass set a backbone to the debauchery.

Even classic Irish numbers like the fiddle and mandolin duet “Ni Thabharfaidh Siad Pingin Duit” was amped up, as Menthe’s fiddle prowess became abundantly apparent.

Like all of the acts that night, Tossers lead singer Tony Duggins wasted little time and favored plowing through a series of spirited jigs instead of riling an already seething crowd. Fans po-goed and moshed through songs from albums like “The Long Dim Road” and “Purgatory” as requests could be heard being shouted between songs.

Bands often take themselves far too seriously, but Duggins and company were visibly having fun interacting with the crowd and swilling a beer or two while belting out tunes. As plumes of smoke swirled around Duggins’ head, the singer careened as best he could on the diminutive stage.

While Duggins’ lyrics were occasionally unintelligible, it didn’t matter to the audience, which was gleefully singing along while dancing or sipping a pint. It is these blemishes that make rock human, and this was no more apparent than when Duggins misplayed a mandolin lead and promptly apologized saying, “I fucked up, let’s try again.”

In an age when music is processed and packaged, it’s nice to see the occasional working- class heroes making legitimate, gut-level music. It is this attitude that makes the Tossers so endearing to fans as any amount of success fails to take the South Side work ethic and pathos out of the band.

The only downside was The Tossers’ miniscule set time, which stopped the merry, drunken reveling far too early in the night.