Steel Panther – July 16, 2023 – Rob the Concert Guy

Holy hell! If you haven’t seen Steel Panther, but you have the opportunity, you should go see them immediately!

Now, they are a bit raunchy (understatement of the day) but it’s such a good time. I’ve been listening to these dudes for about 13 years but this was only the second time I’ve seen them. They’re currently on their “On the Prowl” tour and they have a good opening band called Gunshine. Gunshine has an 80s hair band sound to them, and they were a good opener to warm up the crowd. The singer sounds kinda like Vince Neil did on the Too Fast for Love album…before he sucked. Great guitar playing, great drumming, and good vocals. Check them out if you can.

Steel Panther, if you don’t know, basically pays homage to the 80s hair metal bands. “Formed in 2000, they specialize in imitating and exaggerating the less flattering aspects of 1980s hair metal, with unrepentantly crude, non-PC sexual content as a favorite lyrical theme” (Blabbermouth). They sing about the things that the 80s hair bands were probably doing back stage, but turn it into a funny show with awesome music. They’re great musicians, funny, they have a great stage presence, and just have a fun time rocking.

They opened with Eyes of a Panther, and then played Let Me Come In. They do a ton of bantering in between songs and it’s hilarious. Half the fun is probably in the bantering and crazy stuff they say.

They then played the song Asian Hooker (told you it was a tad raunchy) and brought an Asian woman from the crowd on stage. They paraded her around, danced, and grinded with her. She was a good sport.

They played a cover of Man in the Box (Alice In Chains) with a drummer seemingly from the crowd. But being such funny dudes, it’s hard to know what the story is. It was a solid cover.

Man in the Box

After a few more tunes, they played the song that I first heard when I got into this band, Death to All but Metal. It’s fantastic, though if you’re prudish you may disagree. A bit later on, they brought a pregnant girl on stage and did Impromptu Song for a Girl where they basically make up a song for her. In this case, they sang to her AND her unborn baby. The singer “Michael Starr” found himself laughing throughout and had a hard time singing some of their totally f’d up lyrics during Girl From Oklahoma to her.

No Steel Panther show would be complete without Community Property which came towards the end, followed by Party All Day (F$%@ All Night). Then they took a small break before the encore which was Gloryhole. Did I mention they’re a bit raunchy?

This was actually one of the best shows I’ve been to in a while because not only was it great music, but you find yourself laughing, and just smiling ear to ear the whole show. I looked around during the show and everyone was really having a great time. And having a great time is what live music is all about!