Cowpuncher takes on the Gateway
Local rockers light up the crowd at SAIT’s campus bar
By Riley Nerbas, Staff Writer
The majority of post-secondary students have a hard time budgeting for entertainment, or they budget everything on entertainment and eat instant noodles for eight months. If you are either of these two types of students you are in luck with the music at the Gateway, the local bar at SAIT Polytechnic. The Gateway has a penchant for low priced music that is thoroughly entertaining, and on Nov. 4 local music act Cowpuncher dropped by the venue with opening acts League of Wolves and Amberwood.
League of Wolves opened the night playing a crisp solid southern style rock that has flourished in their hometown of Saskatoon. The band started off with an empty dance floor, but quickly gained a loyal following of dancers through to the end of their set. Amberwood, a band from Waterloo, Ont., carried on the flow of dance music with their Nickelback-esque sound. The band wasn’t able to capitalize like their predecessors on gaining a following, but a handful of girls and a single dedicated male fan thoroughly enjoyed the set.
The crowd at the Gateway welcomed Cowpuncher with loud cheers and a huge gathering on the dance floor, taking hold of the crowd and not letting them go until the end of the set. The crowd sang along to favourites Later On and Crumble. The chemistry that flowed from the relationship between lead vocalist Matt Olah and bassist Shari Rae mobilized the crowd like neither of the previous acts could pull off. Rae stood to the left of Olah and kept a steady rhythm, shrugging off the beats like an old professional, while Olah crooned and waltzed around the stage like a young Jagger. The band released their fourth studio album, Hustle, in early 2016 and is touring sporadically. If you get a chance to see the Calgary band at another hometown show, I’d highly recommend it.
