#NSFW

Steel Panther – House of Blues Dallas – April 9th 2010

So I’ve wanted to write about the Panther of Steel for awhile now, they are so fun and such an interesting phenomenon to me as a contradiction to what our culture deems as significant if its sensibilities are rubbed the right way. Here is what I mean – Steel Panther is, if you don’t already know a satirical musical comedy act lamenting the silliness and fun of 1980’s Hair Metal excess. However, its not a show put on by non-metalers making fun of it to those that want it made fun of – its a note-for-note spot on re-creation of what that experience was back then with a fun hyper sense of self-awareness a la Spinal Tap.
Meaning that the performers can all really play and the singer can really sing and they pull it off like a real functioning band.
Just like professional wrestling, the best way to make it look real, though you know your being entertained is to make it real. And the fans are right there with it, it attracts the same fans of the very bands obviously that they are lamenting cause its the same appeal and even more so with their over the top humor.
However, there are alot of these bands right? I mean in every city is a decent 80s cover band (Dallas’ own Red Leather just to name one) and some bands also kinda have an unofficial-official cover band – (think Destroyer, the Kiss cover band)

What sets Steel Panther apart is not only do they have as many original compositions as they do covers, but its not just the comedy shtick. They are brilliant marketers. They have weekly residencies in Las Vegas and Los Angeles and a less smarter band would be slinging it out in the same dive night after night to the same people receiving as much respect out of the sample population as professional wrestling. Not these guys – their talent speaks for itself and they are funny as hell, but they have reached legitimacy by being culturally savvy. People that you would think would ignore this are showing up in droves, as their Monday night slot in Hollywood has become a destination for celebrities to make appearances at and usually sing with the band.
So what do you do when you decide to tour to places where the celebrity-walk in quotient might not be as high? You have a built-in party host.
Tonight’s host? – None other than Dallas Cowboy maven Tony Romo. Hell they even have Sarah Silverman in their video.
Its this type of strategy that’s making them relevant and people are flocking to their shows just to see who might show up.
Another attraction, other than its just fucking fun, is that since excess is now gone back to being celebrated, its usually also exhibited as well:

Steel Panther – April 19th & 26th 2010 – House of Blues –  Hollywood, CA

So, I’ve written about Steel Panther twice already this year so you know the score, and if you don’t pull your head out of your ass and go see this band haha. Tonight was gonna be a bit different and special as this was the ideal Panther of Steel experience, being as this is what started the whole thing. They have had a weekly residency somewhere in Hollywood under some name for over ten years, and sometime last year it started to become a destination for celebrities to come sing with the band. Its just become this thing that if you are in town and its Monday, you have to go check out Steel Panther. Its actually become an unscheduled part of the show, and that also attracts alot of people, so I was ready for the Steel Panther Sunset Strip experience. I mean this is the scene they are simultaneously lampooning and embracing. I was excited to see who would show up and would Hollywood do me proud of representing my idea of what MTV has taught me about it.
There are so many people who work in the industry and who are also recognizable faces in this town that they actually have a separate will call office for those people. I was embarrassed because my tickets were at that office, so I had to stand in line with people from reality TV. I get my tickets and head inside and its already awesome. The little one off out of town-ers I’ve seen are cool, but this is the deal. In Hollywood on the Strip, everyone is dressed like 80s Metal to the max.
The band hits stage starting with Death to all but Metal and their is a totally different vibe here. These people are in it to win it, and not fucking around. The stage is immediately besieged with a camera crew, apparently they were filming some live footage tonight. It started wild and just stayed wild.

April 26th –

So back again for the second week for Steel Panther at their Monday night residency in Hollywood. If I lived here, I seriously would probably be here every Monday. Sam and I have a mutual friend from Austin, her name is Erin and her and her boyfriend were coming into town today too. Sam couldn’t make the show, but I was meeting them at the venue. Their is like no cell service inside this place but we finally found each other after about a third of the show had started.
Not as crowded or as rowdy as last week’s show had been with the video shoot, but they got some surprising people to come sing with them, and one of the nastiest things in the history of their shows happened.
The come out guns-a-blazing like usual and the was good, just like not as rowdy at first, but man did that ever change. If you have ever been to one of their shows, you know that girls getting on stage is the norm. And its totally harmless, girls usually just dance, take a little teasing from the band, some are there to complete the excessiveness with a little flash here and there, but all in all its just a fun show. Now I know we are in Hollywood, but this shit was so shocking that I learned later that it even shocked the band.
These two girls get up there, and the band tries their usual comedy routine with them, but the girls clearly had a plan they had worked out. One was wearing a really short dress and fishnets, and she reached into her purse and produced a pair of freaking scissors (like I said…planned) and had her friend cut a strategic hole in the crotch of the fishnets, while she sat on the drum riser with her legs spread to purposely have her friend start going down on her. Holy fuck! even the band, not wanting to break character were looking at each other like, “How much trouble are we in right now?” and started playing Eating Ain’t Cheatin haha.

 

 

 It was shortly after this that I found Erin and before she could introduce me to her boyfriend, the first thing she said was “Did you see those two gross sluts?” haha – I’m afraid the answer is yes, yes I did.
Then later he called up Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, to sing two songs. Hawkins sings on their song Party All Night, and then of course they had to bust out The Darkness’ I Believe in a thing called Love. 

 

 

…and he looked like shit – Like you wouldn’t have recognized him at all. Almost like he might have got into acting or something and was looking like that for a role because, he looked awful.
Then for the which celebrity will sing Sweet Child O Mine? moment – here comes comedian Dane Cook. I don’t even really know who Dane Cook is, other than I was impressed because I know that his comedy shows fill arenas, not night clubs (as a statement on the depressing majority of what Americans find funny). The only thing I really know about his guy is that people are polarized on him – meaning either you hate him or you love him – and from what I gather, the experience is that if you love him, you are a date-raping, Ed Hard wearing Neanderthal, and if you hate him, your kinda just as full of shit, but in a pseudo-intellectual latte sort of way.

 

 

All in all it was a good time, Erin and her dude didn’t stay for the whole show and I made my away (again) to the Rainbow after. Hey, its close, I know where it is and its freaking Monday ok? 🙂

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Dallas, TX – May 20th 2010

So how many times have I seen and written about this band already this year? Not sure there is much more to say other than to reiterate just how fun and awesome their shows are. There are bands and then there are entertainers, Steel Panther just happen to be both. Panther originals like Community Property, Asian Hooker, Shocker, Fat Girl and Death To All But Metal are sexual and bold and that’s the way the audience loves it. When you add several topless women it becomes fanatical.
No need for a special host this time around as the band is really taking off, this one was the best one I have seen so far.

Unfortunately one of the greatest rock singers to ever to do it, Ronnie James Dio, had passed away a few days before. There was no way they were not gonna acknowledge it and I was curious as to how they would. They often challenge fans to get up and sing/play and it usually doesn’t end or even start well, but they got his Mexican dude up there and he started singing Dio’s Rainbow in the Dark, to great effect, and the crowd went crazy and then the band, who seemed impressed, cheered him on. It’s these type of spontaneities that make this band and it’s shows so fun.
The bottom line comes down to the basics of Steel Panther. What sets this band apart from the rest is pure talent. Behind the makeup, hair, flashy clothes and the comedy, lies a band that can really play well.

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Dallas, TX – November 10th 2010

Ok so I go to this thinking I might regret not going to see Inspectah Deck instead (who was playing in Denton). I had already seen Steel Panther four times this year alone, and hadn’t seen Deck in five years and when I did, it was one of the best shows I still have ever seen, (despite the bullshit that goes down in Wu Tang land usually). He was playing that same venue tonight, so why wasn’t I going?
The show five years ago didn’t even start till after 1am so I really thought I could catch both. Also this show had a much better promise of seeing rock chicks getting naked and I really didn’t feel like driving to Denton honestly.

The Panther is getting so big, they seemed like they didn’t need the usual gimmick of having a local celebrity host the show or make an appearance and also this show is notable for that they played all originals. So though the shows are very similar, theirs definitely some growth,

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – January 10th 2011

I took a long nap after dropping Ana off at the airport as I was fucking tired from yesterday’s rock climbing mis-adventure.
I get something to eat and do what I do when I’m in LA on a Monday – go see Steel Panther.
Now I was ready to rawk, but I missed Ana so much already it felt like I just had a rib removed, we were both crying uncontrollably when I dropped her off. I sat in my car sobbing until I finally drove away. So what do I do? I go to the same place her & I just were –  we were just here 10 days ago seeing this very band! so needless to say I felt lost without her. I thought it might take my mind off of it, but all it did was make me miss her more (as if that was even possible).
I get to the venue and get inside, and the crowds at these things usually make for some really great people watching, but tonight (and maybe I was in a bit of a sour mood) the crowd was annoying the shit out of me. This Drew Carey looking motherfucker in front of me, thought of himself as a right comedian, and wouldn’t leave people alone, namely me. I put up with for probably longer than I should have before grabbing and telling him that I will break his fucking arm if he didn’t cool it. He fucked off after that, as the show was starting.

They came out and did their usual comedy shtick, but they were really on tonight and played alot of music and mostly originals. Probably not my favorite show so far. I’ve written about this band so much that they only thing to differentiate the shows, is the girls haha (and most of them are also hard to tell apart).
Their’s always alot of girls at these shows, and crazy wild ones, sometimes sexy, sometimes not, who get up there onstage with the band. This show was memorable as this was now my 7th show and this incredibly fit Hispanic girl gets up there and jaws started dropping. She was like a living Barbie doll – it was almost a little too perfect. Super thin waistline, and cartoonishly large breasts
Trust me, this picture doesn’t do it justice – it was bananas.

I went upstairs to the after-party and I was standing right next to the singer, so I thought I’d strike up a conversation and that was quite naive of me. – it took me about 30 secs to realize that if I didn’t have something he wanted from me, I wasn’t even getting a hi howya doing. The requirements seemed to be that you had to be a hot girl that was DTF, or one of the many celebrity/pseudo-celebrities that flock to their shows that have made their Monday night shows a destination for that crowd. I already knew this, and don’t know why I sound surprised. Fuck ’em, as long as they keep rocking, I don’t need to be friends with them.

Photos –

Roy Turner
Joe Lester

Trickykid NAMM After-Party w/ Steel Panther & Remington – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – January 17th 2011

I got there early and prepared the dressing room, got everything in order with the HOB staff, got our passes, set times and scheduled a line-check. The band arrived on time, and were very excited/impressed/grateful for playing such a prestigious venue.

.
It’s finally showtime, and I get them onstage and was excited for them as they were pumped for this. I had made an error to the soundguy when I was discussing stage-plot as we needed another amp for the singer, which I take full responsibility for. With that little speed-bump out the way – time for the lifting of the curtain and for the show to begin –

Neil came to rawk this shit, and he did exactly that. I was very excited for all of them. Their was a real excitement in the air and they were all very pumped to be there and it showed.

Before you know it, their time was up, but it was a decent gig. They really took it seriously, and the crowd responded in kind (especially to Neil as their were tons of guitar enthusiasts in the crowd). Remington even had some self-deprecation and thought he could of done better and was very gracious to me about getting them the gig.

Now it was time for the Panther of Steel to come out and do their thing. I had seen a ton of times before and every week the previous three.

I go to our dressing room (which is now completely empty) to get my stuff and when I return the backstage hallway is full of people spilling out of Steel Panther’s dressing room. I go into our bathroom and when I come out their are now several people in our dressing room including Hulk Hogan’s kids, Brooke and Nick.
I was a little startled, as I’m a huge wrestling fan and as a kid Hulk Hogan was my idol, (not to mention Brooke is a total babe).

“I hope you don’t mind” , one of their friends said, “The hallway is so packed and their was no one in here so thought it would be okay to chill”. I assured them it was just fine. I had to shake my head however, as the whole image battle I went through earlier today and with the guest list,  and here it is really happening and sadly they were not there to see it.
What a crazy day.

…one week later…

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – January 24th 2011

Ok so for the fourth monday in a row I make it to HOB Sunset for Steel Panther (hey I’m a completist, and their’s nothing to do on Monday’s anyway :). The crowd was a little thin tonight compared to the past few weeks and the performance was a bit lackluster by comparison or maybe I’m just getting a bit used to the routine.

Though it was a smaller crowd it created a bit of an intimacy, and it seemed like people were motivated by this to go even a bit more wilder. Like hey, no one’s here, let’s go nuts! – And it was by no means dead – just more sparse which seemed to make people more bolder.

Mariah Lynch, (daughter of George Lynch – Dokken/Lynch Mob) – was there celebrating her birthday as well. I had met her at Rock N America last Summer, she’s totally cool and her friends were hilarious. Good times.

 

Steel Panther – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA – April 25th 2011

Steel Panther tonight in Hollywood
The show starts and the Panther is kicking serious ass –

The show was great,
When we claimed our car from valet, some dude tried to get into the backseat and leave with us, and I ended up having to yank him out and hand him over to security.

Steel Panther – April 11th 2012 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX

Not much I can really add that I haven’t already say in the dozen times I’ve seen and wrote about this band. This was my 4th time seeing Steel Panther at this venue alone and when I’m in Los Angeles I have a habit of attending their Monday night residency religiously and have seen at least a dozen shows out there.
Pretty typical fare – but no less fun.
They come out and blast through two strong numbers and then the parade of dick and fart jokes starts –

Steel Panther – December 18th 2015 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX

Steel Panther are a rare case of satirists who have achieved the same stature as the subjects that they parody.  Their attention to detail is prodigious, meaning that the stage is a riot of leather trousers, bullet belts, spandex, scarves, bandanas and industrial-strength wind machines. David Lee Roth-like singer Michael Starr struts across the stage yowling dumb-but-fun songs about partying and nailing groupies; pouting bassist Lexxi Foxx spends much of the night applying lipstick and preening his waist-length locks in a full-length mirror, but make no mistake, it is it’s own stellar Metal assault.

The musicianship is as sleek and streamlined as it needs to be for this take on 1980s hair metal at its most preposterous and priapic to work, and while period-piece misogyny and sexism ooze from every sleazy second of every song being outraged by Steel Panther would be just as futile to taking moral umbrage to
Weird Al.
Of course things do tend to get a bit wild and a bit real but the women climbing on stage to flash their breasts during Death to All but Metal are highly enthusiastic participants, and as Spinal Tap’s Nigel Tufnel once famously inquired, “What’s wrong with being sexy?”  

It’s all preternaturally puerile, right up the point where Starr slaps his heart on his sleeve for the Aerosmith-like encore power ballad Community Property, crooning the words every woman wants to hear: “You’re the only girl that I like to screw, when I’m not on the road.” Steel Panther may only have one joke, but they keep it up all night.

Setlist – 

Eyes of a Panther
Tomorrow Night
Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)
Just Like Tiger Woods
Turn Out the Lights
Asian Hooker
Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World
Ten Strikes You’re Out
The Stocking Song
Dirty Fuckin’ Whore
Girl From Oklahoma
17 Girls in a Row
Gloryhole
Death to All but Metal

Encore:

Community Property
Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

…and of course like at most shows (especially this one) the fans are just as entertaining as the band as their full of fun, enthusiastic young people ready to have a good time.

Steel Panther – January 22nd 2016 – House of Blues at Mandalay Bay – Las Vegas, NV

Those that are familiar with me & this site already know that I attend several Steel Panther shows a year and have written about them dozens of times.
So in order to not repeat myself what I do is just give you the take on what happened on this given night.
Again, I’ve seen them all over the country and dozens of times at any one of their LA residencies, each show super fun, always wild and keeps me coming back.
However I had never seen them in Las Vegas (the band usually has alternating residencies between LA & Vegas weekly) and just knew that a Vegas show would somehow be even wilder and boy did I pick the best time for it too. I was in town covering the AVN Awards which if you don’t know is like the Oscars of Porn.
So in Las Vegas on a Friday night anyone can be debaucherous but here we are with a band that has made a career celebrating sleazy excess while the largest Porn Star convention in the world is happening just a few blocks over and the whole town has devolved into one big wet t-shirt contest.
The very first words out of (guitarist) Satchel’s mouth were “Ladies and Gentlemen the AVN Awards are this weekend, raise your hand if your a fucking porn star and get your ass on stage right now!”. The place EXPLODED before they had played one note.
They have a new  EP coming out of them playing new & familiar songs in stripped down fashion (pun intended) Live from Lexxi’s Mom’s Garage and when they performed a few of  those a virtual parade of nudity blessed the stage.

The bespectacled blonde girl above with the perfect tits was so much fun – she wasn’t some drunken stragler, she was present, excited & knew every word to every song.
It’s not an unusual sight to see celebrities get up and sing back up at Steel Panther shows but it always gives the show it’s own spontanaety that makes that gig feel special and sometimes one-of-a-kind especially when it’s someone you couldn’t imagine singing or having any knowledge of this band.
That’s what happened when suddenly they brought out Rick Harrison from Pawn Stars, the proprietor of the Gold & Silver Pawn shop that is now a tourist destination thanks to the show.

When he walked out the whole place just gasped – come to find out, he’s a long-time friend of the band, so much so they they played his wedding last year (to a woman waaaaay out of his league, fame has it’s perks for sure).
That combined with they spotted this clueless Eurotrash tourist they dubbed “the French Bret Michaels” had him up on stage most of the show where his total lack of self-awareness had the jokes writing themselves. Just a wild energy all around and one of my favorite shows of their’s I’ve seen yet (& I’ve seen about 20).

Setlist – 

Eyes of a Panther
Tomorrow Night
Fat Girl (Thar She Blows)
Just Like Tiger Woods
Every Rose Has Its Thorn (Poison cover)
Party All Day (Fuck All Night)
Asian Hooker

Acoustic :

Stripper Girl
Girl From Oklahoma
Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
Community Property

Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World
17 Girls in a Row
Death to All but Metal

Steel Panther – January 19th 2017 – The Cromwell – Drai’s Nightclub – Las Vegas

Huge fan of Steel Panther & have seen them many times & usually attend their residency multiple times when I’m in Los Angeles.
They played last year appropriately given their explicit content during the AVN Expo at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay (see above) to one of the most rocking & unique shows of the dozens I’ve seen complete with cast members from Pawn Stars.
It was a wild time even for these guys, so I was excited & expecting more of the same even if I was completely unfamiliar with this venue/hotel.

I called ahead of time to find out set times & couldn’t believe it when told they weren’t going on til like 1am (Vegas for real).
Inspired I even showed up in Hair Metal Cosplay from this past Halloween for a character I came up with for a Texas wrestling promotion I work with called Def Halen, I was ready to rock.
Only to discover that they were playing this straight up stuffy nightclub with a faux beach theme (while ironically the uptight staff were refusing those wearing shorts).
Right as I was being basically manhandled by security for should have been a routine security check I see Vinnie Paul (Pantera) & his usual entourage roll up.
I was then lead to an elevator & down three flights of stairs by an escort that probably thought I was a loser since I was here alone & made me re-think my costume (hey it seemed like a fun idea earlier).
This is the kind of place I loathe & refuse to perform at in my alter ego DJ TrickyKid, that obnoxious bottle service, velvet rope Kardashian thing.
That slimy thing you used to only really see in Miami but see everywhere now, Steel Panther was gonna play here?
 this cheesy dance club for assholes?
Yes I was technically at the right place –

…but it was all wrong – in every sense. I honestly don’t blame the band & it was probably just an experiment from the booking agent that hopefully they won’t repeat. It stripped everything a fan of Steel Panther loves: honesty, abandon & hell original songs of their brand of comedy, they wouldn’t even let girls on stage, a staple of any Steel Panther show.
They even reverted back to playing mostly covers & obvious, overplayed covers at that. It was like watching Steel Panther with amnesia & regressing back to 2003 when they were a cover band called Metal Shop.
Super dissapointing.

Steel Panther – March 22nd 2018 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX 

There’s not much we can say about Steel Panther that we hasn’thaven’t already said before.
Readers of this site know, we have been covering them since their inception & for several years in LA, we went to their Sunset Strip residency every Monday for weeks at a time. When they first came onto the scene back in 2009 you didn’t know if these guys were for real, or if they were a comedy show. As we all grew to either love them we realized that this was a comedy act playing a part as if they were a modern day Spinal Tap. Their lewd sexual jokes, their lycra trousers, ripped T-shirts and big hair all came as a bit of a shock to today’s pretty boy rock stars. Fast forward 9 years and Michael Starr and co are still churning out great albums of super fun albeit sexually explicit glam metal.

This being said, you don’t exactly go to a Steel Panther show, unless you know what you are going for. You go to the show because you are expecting the sexual deviance, the toilet humor, the bad hair, & juvenille behavior. You get all this in truck loads. Two songs into the set and we are delivered the first of the seemingly rehearsed comic routines between Starr and Satchel, all the whilst Lexxi re applies his lip gloss. There is no denying the musical genius within these four. Starr and Satchel possess enough talent on their own instrument to rival any of the greats throughout rock history. They have put in the miles & deservedly are going to continue to squeeze every moment they can out of their success. And hey, why so serious? Let’s have some fun, as this tour is designed to celebrate the history of very era that they parody/worship. What that means however for the setlist is more covers & less originals which is kinda a drag cause I love their original material. However in showcasing well-known songs, it becomes live karaoke which for them translates that the girls are gonna hear the songs they love & sing them with the band when their invited onstage.

Setlist:

Eyes of a Panther
Goin’ in the Backdoor
Jump (Van Halen cover)
Round and Round (Ratt cover)
Crazy Train  (Ozzy Osbourne cover)
Hot for Teacher  (Van Halen cover) (Fan from audience on drums)
Just Like Tiger Woods
Poontang Boomerang
Girl From Oklahoma
Livin’ on a Prayer (Bon Jovi cover)
Pour Some Sugar on Me (Def Leppard cover)
Community Property
Death to All but Metal

Encore:

Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

Steel Panther – October 23rd – Gas Monkey Bar & Grill, Dallas, TX

Early Show

Late Show

Steel Panther – June 24th 2021 – House Of Blues, Dallas, TX

Stuff