Steel Panther, Rams Head Live!, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, April 7, 2017


When I first saw Steel Panther three years ago, I wasn’t really sure what to expect.  They were opening for Judas Priest at the time.  I thought this was an odd choice as Judas Priest is a legend in the hard rock/metal world, and Steel Panther was considered a parody band, that sang in a comedic way about the excesses drugs, sex, and partying that have been historically attributed to rock/metal bands.  Although the reputation that preceded them was validated at the show… I was unprepared for a couple of things….  One, they were extremely funny (I think I hurt myself laughing).  They spent about half their time telling self-deprecating jokes and shamelessly flirting with girls in the audience.  The other half of their time on stage was spent playing music… and I was also really surprised what good musicians they actually were.  The lyrics were purposely “tongue in cheek” corny and over the top raunchy, but their music was no joke with great vocals, great guitar work, and a great rhythm section.  I was, to say the least, highly entertained!

Citizen Zero

In the spring of this year, I finally had the opportunity to see Steel Panther again… this time at a headlining show.  The show was scheduled in early April at the Rams Head Live! In Baltimore, a relatively large club style venue.  The only opening band was Citizen Zero, which I had just seen in February when they were touring with Amaranthe.  (See my review at Aftenoiz.com) This hard rocking quartet of musicians hails from Detroit and just released their first full length album last year.  I loved both of their hard driving sets that I saw back on the Amaranthe tour and I was really looking forward to seeing them again.  They did not disappoint this time around either and gave us all a hard rocking set of mostly original songs as well as a killer version of Ted Nugent’s “Stranglehold”.  They did a great job of energizing the audience for Steel Panther’s set!

Steel Panther

After a brief break, Steel Panther was ready to hit the stage.  A loud growl played though the venue’s sound system and the audience cheered as the band took the stage with “Eyes of the Panther”.  The lead singer Michael Starr set the tone for the night by holding his mic at crotch level as a simulated phallus while jumping across the stage toward the audience as the first song began.  What followed was a really fun evening of crude humor and great music.  Next up was the completely unsubtle “Goin’ in the Backdoor” which was immediately followed by the song “Just Like Tiger Woods” … a not so subtle reference to Tiger’s reputation for sexual escapades.   I noticed immediately that the bands stage style had changed a bit since the last time I saw them.  Although the show still had a fair bit of humorous banter and conversation between the songs, the band did spend much more time performing songs than it did three years ago.  There was also a decreased amount of primping in the mirror by bassist Lexxi Foxx… but there was still some…  The band seemed to have evolved in a direction of being more focused on the music, but the concert was still a completely fun and irreverent Steel Panther show!

Steel Panther

Next on the roster were a pair of totally politically incorrect songs: “Fat Girl” and “Asian Hooker”.  A pair from their new album, “Lower the Bar” followed, including, “That’s When You Came In” and “Poontang Boomerang” (during which they teased a girl in the audience for being unable to stop coming back to Steel Panther shows due to the band’s sexual prowess).  These were followed by Satchel’s extended guitar solo which included original licks and well as snippets of Guns ‘N Roses, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Ozzy, Metallica, and… yes… even The Sound of Music!  (Doe, a Deer, anyone?).  The solo was followed by “Anything Goes” (also from the new album), which is pretty much the mission statement at any Steel Panther show….

Steel Panther

One of the highlights of an evening with Steel Panther… or the low point depending on your perspective… is when the band invites girls onto the stage and tries to tease them out of their tops.  On this particular evening, the band was able to bring one very attractive blonde up, but was unsuccessful in getting her friend on stage too.  While being serenaded by the song, “Girl from Oklahoma”, an acoustic song that describes befouling a girl in raunchy detail…  the girl began progressively taking off layers until, after getting permission from her boyfriend, the bra came off ever so briefly.  This event was followed by the up-tempo song “17 Girls in a Row”, during which the stage was flooded girls from the audience… there were actually 21 I think…  The girls spent most the song dancing around and taking selfies with the band members. Two girls actually flashed the audience briefly… and one went as far as to briefly simulate fellatio with Michael.  At the termination of the song, all the girls were quickly rushed off stage by the management…

The remainder of the main set consisted of the songs, “Glory Hole” and the rocking anthem, “Death to All but Metal”.   After the band thanked the audience and left the stage, the crowd began screaming for more.  The band was only too happy to oblige and returned to the stage for two more songs. The first encore was the popular ballad, for which the song title says it all: “(My Heart Belongs to You, but my *@#^ is) Community Property”.  The final song of the night was, as expected: “Party All Day”.  All in all, it was a great evening with great music and a tremendous amount of irreverent, raunchy, over the top hilarity.  If you have an open mind and aren’t easily offended, Steel Panther is a band you definitely need to check out… and you should have the chance, because, I don’t think they are going away any time soon!

globalnoiz Steel Panther USA