“The Go-Kart Across America Tour” sped through Ames Sunday night, bringing three fast-paced punk bands to the M-Shop.

The Sunday night crowd was about 70 short of being sold out, which gave everyone in the audience a little room to breathe.

The all-female Lunachicks kicked things off at about 8 p.m., an hour after the scheduled starting time.

The typical three-power chord-punk formula was followed meticulously, with the exception of some respectable guitar solos every now and again. Lunachicks have a knack for smooth time changes, which serve up a solid live performance.

Throughout the set, lead singer Theo Kogan, who varied her style from soft and sweet to Speedy Gonzalez in an instant, bellowed out vocals as five or six die-hard fans sang along. The rest of the crowd bopped their heads in agreement.

Dressed for female punk rock success, the foursome warmed up the audience with tunes from some of its six currently available albums and threw in its version of The Cars’ classic “Just What I Needed.”

Down By Law was just what the tour didn’t need before the Buzzcocks went on.

While they did have energy (the bassist rode his pony of a bass around the stage so hard his hat fell off), they lacked integrity. The lead singer’s open mic antics between songs failed to amuse the crowd.

He did have one spicy thing to say as he began crooning “Nothing Good on the Radio” near the beginning of their set.

“Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, I never want to hear that crap again,” he quipped.

Unfortunately for Down By Law, the audience didn’t seem to want to hear anymore of their crap either. Any other night, maybe, but Sunday night, the bulk of listeners were there for a different band.

The Buzzcocks showed no signs of slowing down as the punk veterans, who’ve been around longer than most of us have been alive, buzzed through their set just like they always have.

Although they did have some moments of blatant weariness, the most obvious example being when the drummer kept signaling for the time by tapping his wrist, they were just as energetic as the crowd. Which doesn’t say much, considering the post-hung-over-Sunday-night feeling was still in the air, but many did manage to get over it.

Guitarist Steve Diggle was the main source of action on stage and got the fans’ momentum worked up enough to the point where a guy sprayed beer onto his fellow onlookers. Whether it was accidental from bouncing around so much or intentional, it was about time for a little rowdiness.

Most of the hourlong set featured old favorites such as “Love You More,” “Autonomy,” “Noise Annoys” and “What Do I Get?” with the only obvious drum synthesized tune (a newer Buzzcock’s venture on their most recent album) being “Doesn’t Mean Anything.”

The band of the night was well-applauded and came back for an encore featuring “Harmony in My Head,” and the ever-so-famous “Orgasm Addict,” which brought on an old school-style punk singalong.

The Buzzcocks finished with “Boredom,” and although there were hints of it through the night, there were no signs of boredom as the lights came up.