Napalmpom  are quickly  becoming one of my favourite Calgary bands. Every time I see them,  they become even more of a must see for me, no matter how terrible I’m feeling. Several folks at Pulse, Nov. 10 shared my sentiment, but a whole lot of others missed a great show with Napalmpom and Cowpuncher plus A Trozzo and the Electric Few as I only counted between 60-70 people there to kick off a long weekend not including people smoking in the parking lot.

While I missed The Electric Few ,  I arrived just in time to get my face melted by Napalmpom. What’s not to like? They have guitar hooks sharp enough to hang your hat on, a charismatic and entertaining frontman in PJ Lavergne and guitar solos up the the ying yang, as my dad would say. Though they didn’t put on a crazy  show as usual, they had stage presence to die for and some impressive harmonized guitars from Shawn Petsche and  Craig Evans.

Their set blended punk rock intensity  with classic rock melody and guitar hooks. It included songs about “hockey, friendship, heartbreak, love and setting things on fire for on a first date (Watch it Burn, one of my absolute favourite Napalmpom songs, which came early in the set.

They played several crowd favourites and a handful of band new songs as well.

 Cowpuncher, another of my favourite Calgary bands, was up next. In addition to addictively catchy hard rock that was familiar to those who hd seen them before, they also  played a pretty cool funk fuelled jam, I think was called the Crucible.
 Frontman Matt Olah mugged for the crowd in his sailor’s hat and belted out lyrics.

 Bassist Shari Rae mugged for the crowd and shouted background vocals throughout the tight set, though I had to leave early owing to having to be up at the crack of dawn to go to Calgary.
 Cowpuncher always put on an entertaining show, and this one looked like it would be fantastic.