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Review: Steel Panther/Winger, O2 Academy
Last time Winger played this venue they were headlining. If bassist/vocalist Kip Winger is at all bemused at finding his platinum-selling band playing second fiddle to a parody glam/hair metal act, he does a very good job of hiding it as they rattle through a career-spanning set with barely a pause for breath.
One could question whether it’s appropriate that a man of 61 should still be singing “Daddy says she’s too young/But she’s old enough for me” in their big hit Seventeen. But in an hour’s time, the headliner’s frontman will be serenading a young woman with the line “You’re a dirty little cocksucker” while unveiling her breasts during a song entitled Asian Hooker. So it’s probably safe to assume that no one comes to a Steel Panther show hoping to take performative offence.
is needed now More than ever
Still boasting their original line-up, including ace guitarist Reb Beach who also plays in Whitesnake, the Winger of 2023 is a well-oiled machine, even if Kip’s vocals sound a little rough on occasion, and cope easily with a rather harsh sound mix. “You all know this one – it’s our biggest hit,” he announces rather optimistically introducing the power ballad Miles Away. Not on this side of the Atlantic, dude: it peaked at number 56 back in 1990.
They never really fitted alongside the hair metal acts of the era, being more of a straight-ahead metal band. The breakthrough In the Heart of the Young album is well represented tonight, with a welcome tendency to go all prog-metal highlighting the musicianship underlining all those singalong four-part vocal harmonies. Steel Panther’s Michael Starr even sidles on to share vocals on Headed for a Heartbreak. There’s just the one song from latest release Seven, but at least it’s the pomptastic Proud Desperado.
This is Steel Panther’s fifth consecutive sold-out show at the Academy. As usual, many punters are sporting comedy hair metal wigs for the occasion, but Bristol’s fondness for the band’s antics and music can be a challenge to explain. Few of the original big hair metal bands played here back in the day. Guns n’ Roses were at the Hall Formerly known as Colston with Faster Pussycat back in 1987, but they probably don’t count and the venue was only half full. Def Leppard sold out the Hippodrome that same year. But if you wanted to see Poison or Cinderella, that meant a trip over the bridge to the Newport Centre. Whitesnake fucked off to the US as soon as they stopped being a great British blues-rock band. Motley Crue never ventured this far south. And Bon Jovi were always too big to play Bristol until they eventually came to Ashton Gate in 2008.
The show kicks off in traditional style with the full-on Eyes of a Panther. “I still got it,” smirks Michael Starr as he hits that falsetto shriek before encouraging a buxom young lady down the front to “show those boobies!” Yes, it’s started early tonight.
Debut album Feel the Steel still dominates the set, providing ammo to detractors who claim Steel Panther continue to play the same old show. But it remains a hugely entertaining one, even if the lyrics to the great Death To All But Metal could usefully be updated to include some more modern targets. Many of the fashionable acts of 2009 are inevitably forgotten today. Who remembers the Goo Goo Dolls, after all?
Those memorable hymns to narcissism All I Wanna Do is Fuck (Myself Tonight) and The Burden of Being Wonderful are played back-to-back, followed by the more reflective (this is a comparative term where Steel Panther are concerned) Ain’t Dead Yet from new album On the Prowl, which addresses the insecurities of the aging rocker (“Can’t shoot the jizz no more/It just dribbles onto the whore”), though it’s a shame there’s no room for the self-explanatory One Pump Chump.
The danger of what might be termed Bowling For Soup Syndrome, where the dicking around starts to detract from the songs, remains ever-present but they mostly keep on the right side of it, with the usual jokes about Michael Starr’s age (“I hired this guy in 1981 when he was just 49 years old,” quips guitarist Satchel) and the band’s popularity and competence (“We’ve been voted one of the 12 best metal bands to play Bristol this week”). Newly recruited bassist Spyder (aka “the elephant in the room”) is the butt of many of these gags (“He’s got some big gay boots to fill”). But underneath all the comedy, Steel Panther remain a really good metal band, having served their apprenticeship in various covers acts on the Sunset Strip scene. Nostalgic newie 1987 is as good as anything they’ve ever written, being a heartfelt paean to the era when, as Satchel puts it, “You could take a girl into the bathroom and bang her and all you had to worry about was AIDS”.
A young woman named Peyton is dragged from the audience and, once its been established that she’s 19 (“No one’s going to jail tonight!”), is serenaded individually by each Panther, who improvise songs about her tits, arse and, ahem, fallopian tubes. She sticks around for Girl From Oklahoma, after which, in familiar style, every woman in the audience is invited onstage. They need no encouragement, cavorting en masse to Community Property and Party All Day (Fuck All Night) – aka the best song Bon Jovi never got round to writing – in various states of undress. Getting them off again proves something of a challenge. One slips her herder and bounds onto the drum riser to give a visibly delighted Stix a big kiss on the cheek.
Back for the encore once the stage has been cleared, Steel Panther romp through Gloryhole, leaving a big cheesy grin on every face. Nobody here is buying the oft-repeated argument that the joke has run its course.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: May 2023
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