Steel Panther, Fozzy, Buckcherry @ The Hordern Pavilion, Sydney (07/12/2013)
For the third time in two years, Steel Panther is once again taking over Australian concert halls with their crude lyrics, wicked stage banter and unforgettable outfits. Marketed as the S.T.D Tour or Spreading The Disease Tour, it’s clear exactly what kind of shows their fans are in for.
Opening the night, Fozzy took to the stage in front of a quickly growing crowd. After their performances at the Soundwave Festival earlier in the year, it was clear that they found quite a few fans in Sydney who had turned up early to see their set. They played through several of their live show classics including Enemy and Sandpaper, which had their fans singing along with them. Unfortunately while their fans seemed to enjoy themselves, the rest of the crowd were rather unimpressed by the more average performance.
Buckcherry, who seemed a much more fitting opening band for a Steel Panther show, brought the almost full pavilion into a jumping and singing along crowd of fans. Their hard rock sound, with intense riffs, big solos and choruses made for screaming fans was a perfect match for the heavy drinking and rather impatient crowd.
Lead man Josh Todd kept the venue entertained with his impressive stage presence and dance moves that can be described as nothing but rather dignified booty shaking. The crowd favourite of the night was definitely Lit Up, that highlights the very best features of their discography with some of the best riffs and breakdowns of the night. Their cover of Icona Pop’s I Love It, performed as Say F*ck It, was another crowd pleaser of the night with even the oldest fans singing along to the chorus by the end.
Bringing with them a huge video screen backdrop more suited to large State-side tours, Steel Panther kicked off their set with a ‘live feed’ to a game of strip battleship between themselves and a couple of porn stars in their dressing room. And their performance didn’t get any classier after that, not that anyone was expecting it too. In an explosion of glitter, spandex, netting, headbands, hairspray and a liberal application of lip gloss, Steel Panther took to the stage in front of an almost entirely packed out Hordern Pavilion of cheering and chanting fans.
They opened their set with Eyes of a Panther and Tomorrow Night that whipped the crowd up into a frenzy of screaming, singing and shoving towards the stage. The cheering of the crowd only increased with several female fans flashing the stage and a male fan that seemed to lose both his pants and underwear while his friends hoisted him up above the heads of the crowd.
As one of the most iconic songs on their set list Asian Hooker was the next song played, and saw the big screen first put to significant use. With blurred out stills from several porn films, the silhouettes of nude models and very stereotypical clips of Asian cities, there was no doubt that every person there knew exactly what the song was about regardless of whether they caught the lyrics.
Just Like Tiger Woods, one of their newer songs Party Like Tomorrow Is The End of The World and Let Me Cum In were up next on the set list. Interspersed with the hilarious and rather X-rated stage banter that Steel Panther is known for, they kept the energy of the crowd at full strength. Much like their previous shows, the banter ranged from who had slept with who’s mother, sister and daughter, to exactly what each member was prepared to do in order to save metal. And some of those things mentioned would probably have been better off left to the imagination and never spoken about.
Satchel’s guitar solo, which is about as integral to a Steel Panther show as their banter is, was as flawless and awe-inspiring as ever. In fact, I would have to say that seeing such a talented guitarist letting rip on stage like that was the highlight of the night for me.
The set continued with several of their live show staples, before playing one of their brand new songs Glory Hole, that it seems we will be seeing on their next album. Unfortunately, the song was rather boring and despite the lyrical content fitting in with the tone of their discography, the show would have been better without it.
Another highlight of the night, the piano ballad Weenie Ride, saw Stix Zadinia out from behind his drums in front of piano being serenaded by vocalist Michael Starr. With lighters waving in the air and the crowd joining in on the “weenie weenie weenie weenie weenie weenie weenie ride” bridge it was a rather pleasant and quiet moment of the show.
The rest of the set finished up with Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’ and the crowd favourite Death To All But Metal before Steel Panther took a brief break off stage. Upon their return they flew straight into their three-song encore, starting off with Community Property. The encore saw quite a few scantily clad girls from the crowd being pulled up on stage and being called on by the band and their fans to take their shirts off while on stage. The last two songs of the night, Party All Day (Fuck All Night) and 17 Girls In A Row had the fans signing along at the top of their lungs, the girls on stage dancing and jumping along and band using up every last bit of energy they had left at the end of the night.
While the quality of their show hasn’t dropped from the last time they were in Sydney, I’d have to say that they’ve finally stepped over the line of humours to uncomfortably trashy with some of their onstage comments and the video footage shown on their backdrop. But for those who enjoy classic glam rock and heavy metal along with significant amounts of nudity and don’t mind taking things further than too far, Steel Panther’s Spread The Disease Tour could be just the show for you.
Bethany Williams
Opening the night, Fozzy took to the stage in front of a quickly growing crowd. After their performances at the Soundwave Festival earlier in the year, it was clear that they found quite a few fans in Sydney who had turned up early to see their set. They played through several of their live show classics including Enemy and Sandpaper, which had their fans singing along with them. Unfortunately while their fans seemed to enjoy themselves, the rest of the crowd were rather unimpressed by the more average performance.
Buckcherry, who seemed a much more fitting opening band for a Steel Panther show, brought the almost full pavilion into a jumping and singing along crowd of fans. Their hard rock sound, with intense riffs, big solos and choruses made for screaming fans was a perfect match for the heavy drinking and rather impatient crowd.
Lead man Josh Todd kept the venue entertained with his impressive stage presence and dance moves that can be described as nothing but rather dignified booty shaking. The crowd favourite of the night was definitely Lit Up, that highlights the very best features of their discography with some of the best riffs and breakdowns of the night. Their cover of Icona Pop’s I Love It, performed as Say F*ck It, was another crowd pleaser of the night with even the oldest fans singing along to the chorus by the end.
Bringing with them a huge video screen backdrop more suited to large State-side tours, Steel Panther kicked off their set with a ‘live feed’ to a game of strip battleship between themselves and a couple of porn stars in their dressing room. And their performance didn’t get any classier after that, not that anyone was expecting it too. In an explosion of glitter, spandex, netting, headbands, hairspray and a liberal application of lip gloss, Steel Panther took to the stage in front of an almost entirely packed out Hordern Pavilion of cheering and chanting fans.
They opened their set with Eyes of a Panther and Tomorrow Night that whipped the crowd up into a frenzy of screaming, singing and shoving towards the stage. The cheering of the crowd only increased with several female fans flashing the stage and a male fan that seemed to lose both his pants and underwear while his friends hoisted him up above the heads of the crowd.
As one of the most iconic songs on their set list Asian Hooker was the next song played, and saw the big screen first put to significant use. With blurred out stills from several porn films, the silhouettes of nude models and very stereotypical clips of Asian cities, there was no doubt that every person there knew exactly what the song was about regardless of whether they caught the lyrics.
Just Like Tiger Woods, one of their newer songs Party Like Tomorrow Is The End of The World and Let Me Cum In were up next on the set list. Interspersed with the hilarious and rather X-rated stage banter that Steel Panther is known for, they kept the energy of the crowd at full strength. Much like their previous shows, the banter ranged from who had slept with who’s mother, sister and daughter, to exactly what each member was prepared to do in order to save metal. And some of those things mentioned would probably have been better off left to the imagination and never spoken about.
Satchel’s guitar solo, which is about as integral to a Steel Panther show as their banter is, was as flawless and awe-inspiring as ever. In fact, I would have to say that seeing such a talented guitarist letting rip on stage like that was the highlight of the night for me.
The set continued with several of their live show staples, before playing one of their brand new songs Glory Hole, that it seems we will be seeing on their next album. Unfortunately, the song was rather boring and despite the lyrical content fitting in with the tone of their discography, the show would have been better without it.
Another highlight of the night, the piano ballad Weenie Ride, saw Stix Zadinia out from behind his drums in front of piano being serenaded by vocalist Michael Starr. With lighters waving in the air and the crowd joining in on the “weenie weenie weenie weenie weenie weenie weenie ride” bridge it was a rather pleasant and quiet moment of the show.
The rest of the set finished up with Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’ and the crowd favourite Death To All But Metal before Steel Panther took a brief break off stage. Upon their return they flew straight into their three-song encore, starting off with Community Property. The encore saw quite a few scantily clad girls from the crowd being pulled up on stage and being called on by the band and their fans to take their shirts off while on stage. The last two songs of the night, Party All Day (Fuck All Night) and 17 Girls In A Row had the fans signing along at the top of their lungs, the girls on stage dancing and jumping along and band using up every last bit of energy they had left at the end of the night.
While the quality of their show hasn’t dropped from the last time they were in Sydney, I’d have to say that they’ve finally stepped over the line of humours to uncomfortably trashy with some of their onstage comments and the video footage shown on their backdrop. But for those who enjoy classic glam rock and heavy metal along with significant amounts of nudity and don’t mind taking things further than too far, Steel Panther’s Spread The Disease Tour could be just the show for you.
Bethany Williams