With the imminent release of Steel Panther's 3rd album 'All You Can Eat', Steel Panther hit Nottinham's Rock City toward the tail end of a massive 6 week tour that's covered pretty much all of Europe.
These days it's odd to see a band tour before their new album release, and I was a bit puzzled as to why. Regardless, like always, Steel Panther sold out Rock City at a lightning pace and the queues outside the venue even an hour after doors opening were living proof.
After we made our way in, and missing most of the support band, we slipped our way through the hair, spandex, make up and leather clad mob toward the front. Steel Panther do Glam the way Glam was meant to be done. If nothing else, a Steel Panther gig is a cliché. A cliché done very very well. They bring out an element in their fans that most bands can't. Even 20 years after the decline of the Glam movement, Steel Panther do it better than it was done in 1980something. They do what they do with a little humour and more balls than I've seen onstage in a long time.
So, the lights go out, and here we go... Introduced by Iron Maiden's 'The Number of the Beast', Steel Panther jump-started Nottingham like nothing I've seen in recent memory. This is not a PG-13 band, Steel Panther do what all good parody bands do, they're rude, crude and really really good.
Going through their set, mostly classics like 'Eyes of a Panther', 'Tiger Woods', 'Asian Hooker' to name but a few, Steel Panther show absolutely no signs of slowing down any time soon. They move like their 18 again... And you've gotta love a band that has that kind of energy.
I was told later on, that the band had bought a giant screen to put behind them on the stage, but the Rock City ceiling was too low, so they had to "leave it in the van". Regardless, an essential part of a Steel Panther show is wonderfull banter between band members and audience. We find out that Michael Starr is, "So Heavy Metal he had his first threesome aged nine. With his aunt and uncle" And that bassist Lexxi Foxx plays bass because "theres only four strings" and hes "a fucking retard"... This is before we move on to jokes about Cocaine, Fat chicks and a certain former lead singer from the LostProphets... Which is hilarious if you're not easily offended.
Steel Panther love playing Nottingham, it's always one of the first venues to sell out. If you're lucky enough to get tickets, you can see why. The crowd give everything they've got for this band, the band give it back literally. Inviting a crowd of girls on stage to dance & sing with them, I know this wasn't all set up beforehand as we knew one of the girls who got asked on stage. Personally, I've seen a lot of bands and Steel Panther are one of the best one's live and it's plain to see why they toured before their album release. After playing a few of the tracks from it tonight, I'll be first in line at my local record store to buy it.
I'm looking forward to this years Download Festival, so I can see them again.
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.