It hasn’t been too long since Steel Panther were last in the UK, but clearly we can’t get enough of them over here because tonight’s show was sold out on arrival!
The auditorium was already filling up nicely (with more than a few people dressed for the occasion in wigs and 80’s glam-style outfits!) by the time Mia Klose took to the stage for an overly forgettable performance. Nothing really stood out about her set and all the songs sounded like carbon copies of one another, which was unfortunate, and she had no real stage presence as she just wandered about the stage during the songs. There was nothing bad about the set, per se, but nothing overly great either – although she did wind things up with a good rendition of You Could Be Mine by Guns N’ Roses!
Thankfully, headliners Steel Panther got things back on track and absolutely stole the show as expected. Following the sounds of Iron Maiden’s Number Of The Beast filling the auditorium, the fourpiece exploded onto the stage and kickstarted the night with Eyes Of The Panther. The whole room was singing as one almost immediately – the atmosphere was incredible – and they progressed well into the following song, Tomorrow Night.
Something that instantly helped to make the performance brilliant was the massive screen set up behind the band because it added a lot to the performance visually – not to mention it meant that us short people could see what was going on between some largely amusing imagery being displayed to some of the songs! The band also made good use of the stage, not consigning themselves to just one spot for the entire set, with a lot of movement and energy throughout
Aside from a somewhat time-wasting drawn out spoken section near the start of the set, which felt like the band could have used their time more productively by playing an extra song (although it has to be said the improvised song from Satchel of ‘She’s a man, she’s a Manchester girl’ was hilarious), it was an all-round fantastic night and the set included highlights such as Asian Hooker (complete with an Asian girl onstage with them), a good showcase of new material from the upcoming album (although not so much that it felt overwhelming), Turn Out The Lights (which saw Michael emerge onstage wearing a cape) and of course Death To All But Metal before leaving the stage to roars of cheers.
Of course, they returned for an encore and they closed with the apt Party All Night, which saw the crowd showered with confetti as the song came to an end and the whole room was even singing the song a cappella back to the band as they left the stage.
Honestly, I’m inclined to say that if you don’t like Steel Panther, you don’t like fun. Excellent night.
8/10
