Artist: Steel Panther – Sunset Strip Live
Date: Sunday May 20th 2018
Venue: Eatons Hill
Reviewer: Hayley Treadwell
Photographer: Andrew Treadwell – Hang Me On Your Wall Photography

Steel Panther returned with their Sunset Strip live show, a tip of the hat to how they all started over 15 years ago before even releasing an album.

The show was broken into two segments, the first was all Steel Panther, the second a set of their favourite covers. The band hit the stage with “Eyes Of A Panther”, “Goin’ In The Backdoor”, and “Asian Hooker”. For those who have never seen Steel Panther before you need to experience it to understand it. Its part rock, part stand up comedy, and 100% the band taking the piss out of each other, and 100% not-a-g-rating-in-sight. Of course lead singer Michael Starr made sure he had some audience participation on stage for “Girl From Oklahoma”, its not a Steel Panther show if there is no fans on stage. Bassist Lexxi Foxx made sure his makeup and hair were totally perfect all the time and deflected insults from Michael and guitarist Satchel at the same time. Multi tasking at its best. Drummer Stix Zadina drove the ship making sure older songs like “Just Like Tiger Woods”, “Community Property”, and “Gloryhole” fit well with newer songs like “Poontang Boomerang”, with all the crowd singing along. The main set ended with “Death To All But Metal”, but no intermission needed, the band wasted no time in going into the Sunset Strip portion of the show.

Second half of the show started with a cover of Motley Crue’s “Kickstart My Heart” and the Scorpions “Rock You Like A Hurricane”. Singer Michael Starr then appeared in a black long sleeve shirt to sing “Crazy Train” by Ozzy Osbourne, and had the crowd in hysterics with a pretty faithful Ozzy impersonation. Satchel then took centre stage for his guitar solo, which also saw him playing the drums, at the same time, busting through some classic songs (and nursery rhymes) with the crowd taking over the vocals.

Brisbane were then treated to something special as the band announced a special guest, original drummer for Guns ‘n’ Roses, Steven Adler. Adler was joined by bassist Sean Mcnabb and lead singer Constantine. Adler and Co joined in for “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Mr. Brownstone” and the Brisbane crowd went berserk for both songs. More songs from the 80s followed with “Pour Some Sugar On Me” and “Livin On A Prayer”, the band ended the night with their own classic “Party All Day”

This format suits Steel Panther perfectly. No opener, two sets from them instead. Of course I would love to see them play more of their own stuff, and less schtick, but thats what makes a Steel Panther show. Part music, part comedy. The band make sure they always hit Australia on every tour, so when they come back, don’t miss out!

Hear2Zen would like to thank MJR Presents and Collision Course PR for all of their help