Fozzy – Perth, WA, 12 December 2013

Shane | 3 January 2014

LIVE: STEEL PANTHER / Buckcherry / Fozzy
Metro City, Perth, Western Australia
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar

Originally published in edited form in X-Press Magazine’s 18 December 2013 issue

Steel Panther made a triumphant return to Metros after little more than a year, bringing some new tunes, a big video screen, and all the un-PC hair metal revivalism that the good folks of Perth could handle.

First up though, a muscular set from the very metal Fozzy, fresh from touring The States with Saxon and fronted by ex-pro wrestler Chris Jericho, they went down a treat and warmed up the sold out crowd.

Buckcherry were on a lot of people’s bucket lists and burst on stage full of vim and vigour, revelling in their finest sex, drugs and rock n’ roll anthems – Lit Up, So Far, All Night Long and Everything all getting the sleaze-rock loving crowd sweaty. And then… a souped up cover of Icona Pop’s synthpop I Love It polarised the audience despite being re-christened Say Fuck It, followed by energy-sapping sloppy snippets of AC/DC’s Big Balls and The Stones’ Miss You, before regaining the upper hand with the irrepressable anthem Crazy Bitch.

Steel Panther’s comedy routines are as important to their show as their cock rockin’ tunes, and the headliner’s set started with a video of them playing ‘Strip Battleships’ backstage with some *ahem* classy young ladies. It’s all high camp, tongue-in-your-choice-of-cheek, politically incorrect fun, and Metros lapped it up, going bananas when the foursome took their primped and preened places onstage for Eyes Of A Panther and Tomorrow Night.

With a minimalist set that made good use of the big video screens and with the two international support bands in place, Panther have also attracted a larger crowd this time round, so it’s a shame they seem a little wearier this time round. Even if the tour and the heat have taken their toll, they are still full of spunk and make sure the night is a riot.

[Show picture list]

Whether they’re singing about Asian Hookers, chicks for whom you must Turn Out The Lights, or suggesting that Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’, you know they embody the party spirit of the late eighties, and top it off with ridiculous comedic moments that leave no self-deprecating or Spinal Tap-ish clichéd stone unturned: guitarist Satchel’s ‘I don’t like to suck a giraffe’s dick, but I’ll do it for heavy metal’; singer Michael Starr’s description as ‘the love child of [Poison frontman] Bret Michaels and Meatloaf’; or pretty boy bassist Lexxi Foxx being described as ‘when someone tells him to ‘go fuck himself’, he actually considers it!’

Yeah, it’s all juvenile teenage swear bear humour delivered by 4 guys in their 40’s, 3 of which are wearing over the top wigs, so by now you know whether you would have loved or hated it. Steel Panther don’t care – they love eighties heavy metal, confetti guns, teased hair and tastefully torn spandex, and they’re playing specifically for the sellout crowd who do too.

The Hollywood hellraisers finished off their main set with breakout single Death To All But Metal and there was barely a flaccid or dry crotch in the house, before an encore of the Motley Crue-spoofing Community Property, a throng of gyrating chicks pulled up from the audience and all the sexism one can handle, the more-Bon-Jovi-than-Bon-Jovi (playing on the other side of the tracks this very night) Fuck All Night And Party All Day, and the ever-classy 17 Girls In A Row – all without causing offence to a single soul present.
Set List:

Eyes Of A Panther
Tomorrow Night
Asian Hooker
Just Like Tiger Woods
Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World
I Wanna Cum In Your Mouth Tonight
Satchel Guitar Solo
Turn Out The Lights
Glory Hole
Weenie Ride
Eatin’ Ain’t Cheatin’
It Won’t Suck Itself
Death To All But Metal

Community Property
Party All Day (Fuck All Night)
17 Girls In A Row