Steel Panther with guests, Airbourne
Heaps and Loads Tour 2022
Hordern Pavilion, Moore Park, Sydney
Friday 21st of October, 2022.
Californian 80’s hard rock parody band, Steel Panther, have toured Australia numerous times. They’ve appeared here either as co-headliners with Alter Bridge or Slash, or as headliners themselves, selling out large venues, and touring here with a variety of guest artists such as Buckcherry and Fozzy. For their latest tour cycle, off the back of most recent release Heavy Metal Rules, the pandemic induced postponements meant the scheduled guests of Sevendust bowed out and instead, Australia’s own export success, Airbourne, joined the east coast tour. In short, Steel Panther risked being upstaged by such a high energy act but most of the audience were there for the reliable, spandex clad hijinks, which were naturally delivered in typically flamboyant and crude style.
A wall of Marshalls greeted the audience from the stage, with the Airbourne backdrop proudly stating that meat and potatoes, no nonsense hard rock was the means to warm up the varied crowd. As lights dimmed and recognisable Terminator sequel theme track hinted at the pending machine like musical attack, band members took their positions, with shirtless front-man Joel O’Keeffe running onto the stage in ripped black jeans, and letting rip on his white Gibson Explorer guitar, as the band launched into opening track, Ready to Rock, from third album Black Dog Barking. The rest of the band, all dressed in black, locked into gear, providing the stomping rhythm section as Joel O’Keeffe aggressively unleashed one of many guitar solos for their set.
Drummer Ryan O’Keeffe and long serving bassist Justin Street were in tight formation, as new rhythm guitarist Jarrad Morrice hammered out the chordal riffs. Both Street and Morrice would cross sides of the stage as songs progressed, to continue with strong backing vocals and plant their feet on the fold back wedges as Joel prowled the stage at every opportunity. During debut album track, Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast, some Status Quo swaying stage moves got an airing, but if there was one clear influence, it was of course AC/DC.
Song introductions ranged from anecdotal to laconic Australian humour such as, ‘Here’s a song about girls in black called Girls in Black,’ during which our intrepid front-man jumped on the shoulders of a member of the entourage to venture out into the crowd, soloing and riffing away, as well as crushing a can of VB on his forehead. Rousing tracks continued, with Burnout the Nitro from Boneshaker being a set highlight, ushering in the use of Steel Panther’s pyro flash pots to great effect whilst Joel took the mic from the stand and roamed the stage, alternating between riffs, solos and screeching at intense, Brian Johnson approved volume levels. A whirlwind touring itinerary rundown whilst changing guitars introduced the raucous Back in the Game, seguing straight into the rhythm section led title track from Breakin’ Outta Hell, as a circle pit was encouraged. Then the PA cut out. Staged or not, the band took it in their stride as amps were turned off and on again.
Reconvening rather sensibly at just before the solo, O’Keeffe let rip on the angriest solo of the set, reaching for screaming high notes. A tribute to Lemmy from Motörhead ensued with It’s All for Rock ‘n’ Roll, and as band introductions concluded, a Lemmy chant was started, and a road case emblazoned with Lemmy’s Bar ensured a full bottle of hard liquor was emptied into four cups, with a dash of cola, to be swigged and then distributed to the crowd, swiftly followed by Stand Up for Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Ryan O’Keeffe started the encore with a vigorous approach to an air raid siren before the fingerpicked intro for Live It Up kicked in. During breakdowns in the song, a plentiful supply of cups half filled with beer were jettisoned into the audience. To bring things to a close, Runnin’ Wild delivered superbly, during which Joel O’Keeffe positioned himself at stage right, grinned, pick tapped the fretboard, pointed at the audience then duck walked across the stage riffing part of classic AC/DC track, Let There Be Rock. Pure energy start to finish, even with a slight PA hiccup, Airbourne were in top form tonight. Cop that, Steel Panther.
Listening to Dokken, Ozzy and other 80’s rock tracks during the changeover, the stage for Steel Panther was soon transformed into a clear performance space, free of amplifiers, adopting the digital age with multi levelled risers, lighting trusses hoisted up and backing lighting with strobes put in place. As Van Halen’s classic Unchained track was cranked up over the PA, the stage lights were lowered to introduce the pop metal powerhouse, Steel Panther. Taste was nowhere to be seen as typically attired in what Spinal Tap’s late manager would have described as an ‘Australian’s nightmare’, meant all four bandana clad band members were vying for attention, intentionally or otherwise. But the guitars are cool, being reminiscent of guitar legend George Lynch’s tiger artwork.
Kicking off with Goin’ in the Backdoor from the aptly titled Lower the Bar, swiftly followed by comical Balls Out track Tomorrow Night, these two songs set the tone for anyone not initiated in the Steel Panther experience. Soon after, the banter between virtuoso guitarist Russ ‘Satchel’ Parrish and vocalist Ralph ‘Michael Starr’ Saenz was off and running. A combination of jokes referencing bastions of 80’s rock in various states of disrepair, mixed with fictionalised tales of sexualised debauchery, and a tongue in cheek macho posturing is par for the course for their well-rehearsed, swiftly delivered comedy routine. Clearly comedy is a subjective appreciation but in the case of Steel Panther, they get away with it because a lot of the humour satirises a glamourised lifestyle from an era that is starting to reveal some severe wreckage cases.
A snippet of Def Leppard’s Photograph introduced drummer Darren ‘Stix Zadinia’ Leader making fun of Rick Allen, which he would probably have approved at some point, and let new band member, bassist Joe ‘Spyder’ Lester crack some jokes, and be initiated by the band into addressing subordinate fans. Asian Hooker from debut Feel the Steel was a set highlight, especially musically given the Yngwie Malmsteen references throughout. One of the appeals of Steel Panther for musicians, and primarily guitarists, is that Satchel drops in numerous tributes to some of the most talented guitarists that graced the covers of guitar magazines, both then and now. His guitar tone is often spot-on in replicating the artist being celebrated, despite the overall context being comedic.
The only track played from most recent album, Heavy Metal Rules, was the falsetto infused tri-tone filled ditty, All I Wanna Do is Fuck [Myself Tonight]. A quick thank you to Airbourne allowed for more Australian culture digs in the form of groupie jokes to introduce Poontang Boomerang as a panama hat became a prop for sight gags with fumbling stagecraft jokes. There’s plenty of endless fighting for a microphone stands or encroaching in territorial stage areas, faked backing down from tough talking in band fights on stage, all of which are in-jokes for heavy metal fans. Having said that, repetitive new song Never Too Late [To Get Some Pussy Tonight] continued with tasteless jokes, as per usual.
Satire can also be done affectionately, as seen with a cover of Ozzy Osbourne’s Crazy Train, whereby Starr, escorted and shuffling on stage with flattened hair and dark spectacles. He did a fairly concise rendition of Ozzy’s stage moves, including wide grins, excited hand claps, and was accompanied by Satchel’s note perfect performance of the late, great Randy Rhoads’ solo. Satchel’s guitar solo spot was part mocking self-indulgence and part tribute to luminaries of guitar technique including referring to the late Edward Van Halen’s Eruption, Nuno Bettencourt’s Flight of the Wounded Bumble Bee and Yngwie Malmsteen’s Trilogy Suite Opus 5. Astride a drum kick to add percussive embellishments, well known tracks such as Sabbath’s Iron Man and Metallica’s Master of Puppets also got the nod. Satchel’s meticulously cut t-shirt was also a Gojira one, so he knows the scene.
Bringing a keyboard and stool out to the front of stage, Zadinia played the piano lines as an unwitting female audience member was serenaded with supposedly improvised but certainly inappropriate, satirical lyrics from each band member as a continuation of the cabaret comedy routine. Weenie Ride was then played and on this occasion, the female in question stuck to her guns and did not comply with revealing her breasts.
Staggeringly though, as 17 Girls in a Row saw the stage flooded with female audience members, there wasn’t any shortage of those willing to jump around naively partially dressed. Musically, the boogie feel track has a Mr. Big and Extreme feel to it, which again demonstrates the depth of musicianship appreciation within Steel Panther. Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World is largely an excuse for the crowd to sing along to the chorus. Leering at breasts of generally willing participants might be harmless in the grand scheme of things, but when the crowd pressuring a very attractive female, it became a commercial transaction with an audience member. Pushing boundaries in the name of satire has limits.
Clearing the dominating additional stage members, classic debut album track Death to All but Metal showed how good Steel Panther can be when they cut back on the banter and just play tight, fast paced hard rock. Satchel’s soloing in this track is swift, with wide vibrato reminiscent of Eddie and Vai. As a set closer, was another highlight, complete with more pyro, strobe lighting effects in overload and various colour arrays of lights.
The encore saw two songs performed, starting with the change of pace in power ballad Community Property, giving the crowd another singalong moment, bolstered by background keyboard tracks. Closing the show, Gloryhole from All You Can Eat was whipped out and saw Satchel offer up some tremolo picking and power chords. Smoke blasts timed with the chorus drove home the point, using a half time bridge section to ramp back up to the solo, down-tuned riff and chorus as the crowd sang along, although not at Starr’s level of falsetto.
Steel Panther delivered a top notch glam metal set with all the bells and whistles their huge show offers up in headlining mode. The comedy routines parodying a decadent era are part and parcel of their success so it’s accepted, even if societal changes may push them to reconsider some aspects. By comparison, Airbourne are a lean musical machine and their career trajectory looks unquestionably solid. Both bands are different but allowed everyone to let off some steam.
Goin’ in the Backdoor
Tomorrow Night
Asian Hooker
All I Wanna Do is Fuck [Myself Tonight]
Poontang Boomerang
Never Too Late [To Get Some Pussy Tonight]
Crazy Train
Guitar Solo
Weenie Ride
17 Girls in a Row
Party Like Tomorrow is the End of the World
Death to All but Metal
Community Property
Gloryhole.