Review: Nev Pearce
Photography: Dan Maynard

Are you ready babeeeeehhh!!!

One of the greatest live acts on the planet, Steel Panther has returned down under to party hard with Aussie fans in support of their latest album ‘On The Prowl’.

No strangers to our country, the Panther boys have consistently made an effort to visit us here and with each return, the fans have shown up in droves ready to rock out with their heroes and let loose for a night of 80’s metal and debauchery.

The show is being held at the Fortitude Music Hall, one of my favourite venues and the perfect setting for an all-out rock extravaganza such as this, opening the show tonight is guitar legend John 5 who many know from his stint back in the late 90’s with Marilyn Manson and recently joining a little band called Motley Crue (they will be huge one day!).

His stage set up is light, consisting of just him, multiple guitars, his drummer Alejandro Mercado his guitar tech filling in bass duties with some backing tracks thrown in, but what he lacks in stage props and band members he sure as hell makes up with his incredible shredding skills and showmanship.

5’s set list is a wild ride through hard rock, industrial, groove, country and even a crowd driven sing along jam of Queen’s Crazy Little Thing Called Love as well as a classic Crue medley that keeps the early punters locked, entertained and warmed up for main act.

By the time Steel Panther hits the stage, the Forty is packed with fans wall to wall who are ready to let loose on a school night and give the boys a loud, warm welcome as they rip into Eyes of a Panther.

Following it up with Let Me Cum In and a comedy routine that leaves a few first-timers red-faced, Panther then launches into the non-PC fan favourites Asian Hooker and Fat Girl (Thar She Blows) which are highlights of the night.

Nothing and no one is safe, if you come to a Steel Panther show expecting a family-friendly evening you are in the wrong place, every offensive word and joke is used repeatedly to full effect, from overtly sexual comments and lyrics to digs about doing each other mums to a gag about the drummer of Def Leppard, it’s as if these guys had stepped out of a DeLorean from 1987 and haven’t realised the world is a more sensitive place, which makes it a hundred times funnier when each joke lands.

With all the jokes aside Steel Panther are incredible musicians, they are known as some of the best session guys in the business and this is displayed when guitarist Satchel gets his moment in the spotlight to shred up a storm and demonstrate his Eddie Van Halen level skills which leads directly into the massive fan favourite Death to All but Metal.

Frontman Michael Starr still sounds amazing at almost 60, he can belt out the songs with power and still hit those David Lee Roth high whistle notes while energetically running around the stage and engaging the fans.

Things are brought down for an improv acoustic session with a guest from the audience who is sat on stage and brought in on the fun, playfully being teased about being a mother with four children and how hot they thought she was before being serenaded by the four members with Girl From Oklahoma.

Things ramp up again after the band invite a group of ladies on stage for 17 girls in a Row and all chaos breaks loose with top-half nudity, a floppy pink dildo stuck to Satchels guitar and a scantily clad nun, it’s the zany over-the-top fun you expect from a Panther show that you would have trouble explaining at the water cooler at work the next day, hilarious stuff.

Wrapping up with the big sing-along of Community Property, Party All Day and Gloryhole, Steel Panther once again proves that heavy metal is alive, kicking and doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is exactly what the world needs right now to get its mind off the doom and gloom.

More of this please and thank you, come back soon to party lads!