Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Steel Panther, really? Having trekked to Sin City for a girls weekend away, let me explain by saying this gig wasn’t first choice for the evening. However, when Derek at the ticket office said Santana would set us each back a crisp one hundred dollar bill, at that point, the Panther looked ever more the fiscally attractive option at $20.
Thoroughly uninitiated, I had no idea what I was about to experience. Two of my girls had previously experienced the Panther pleasure (as it were) and reassured me ‘everything’s going to be fine’. I cautiously accepted their judgment.
Confronted with a mass of hair, leopard print spandex and ripped mesh tops, Steel Panther were a sight to behold. Two songs in, I was seriously thinking of doing a discrete runner when the band started up with ‘Asian hooker’. As Michael Starr (lead vox) dragged three poor girls of Asian descent out of the crowd to dance on stage, I remember thinking ‘ugggh… this could end really badly’. To my surprise, the girls were clearly fans and reveled in the attention singing all the words in time. I couldn’t believe it! I decided right then and there to toss sensibility aside and go with the hilarity of the moment.
It’s clear that Steel Panther have a solid and loyal following. Starr (a self confessed ‘chubbier version of Brett Michaels’) doesn’t disappoint treating the crowd of mostly fans to an interactive experience. With loads of banter back and forth between the band and audience, Starr knows how to hold the energy. It would however, be remiss of me at this point not to provide a warning – make sure you’re paying attention, lest you’re likely to become the centre of it!
Piling through ‘Girl from Oaklahoma’ and ‘If you really, really love me’, Starr took every opportunity to invite the audience in. There was even a surprisingly enjoyable moment as the crowd of roughly 500 drunk blokes sang along to ‘Community Property’ (my heart belongs to you, but my dong is community property…). Classy, yes I know.
Part way through the night, the band were joined onstage by ‘the ugly one from N-SYNC’ which, as it turns out, is actually Joey Patone. While Patone’s contribution was lackluster, not even a bad rendition of Bon Jovi’s ‘living on a prayer’ could dampen the crowd’s spirits.
A memorable performance was delivered by Lexxi Fox on bass who consistently stole the limelight with his OTT preening – all in front of a glittered mirror. And when he and Satchel (lead guitar) came together on stage for moments of guitar fueled, choreographed grinding, the visual was as much hilarious as it was disturbing. An equally important contributor, Stix (drums) appeared a slightly forgotten member on stage which was a little disappointing, yet understandable as he struggled with a ‘drum-kit malfunction’ for a large part of the set. The only real let down for the evening was the girl who got her bazooka’s out on stage – numerous times – to which no-one was really interested. God bless her skanky little heart, if only she’d come all the way from Mackay and not Melbourne…
Ahhhh Steel Panther. What can I say, if you’re easily offended, then this ain’t the band for you (trust me, you’ll have ‘thar she blows’ in your head for days…). Despite the completely offensive nature of the lyrics and crude banter, Steel Panther were actually a thoroughly entertaining piss-take and worth the live experience. 6 star spangled bandanas out of 10.
http://www.steelpantherrocks.com
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