Cock Rock Super Stars: Steel Panther, Manchester Apollo

Richard Stephenson | 29th January 2018

My friends and I used to have a game. If we walked passed a gig venue and there was a queue outside, we’d try and guess who was playing inside. I had many victories over the years: glasses wearing 50 somethings? Elvis Costello. Checked-shirt wearing bearded lads? Band of Horses. Mods with coconut-style hair cuts? Paul Weller. Damn. I’m good.

So. Who do you think were playing Manchester Apollo with a queue dressed in leather, spandex, big hair and bandanas? My guess of Van Halen would have only got half marks; Steel Panther (for it is them!) cut their teeth as a tribute act to David Lee Roth’s flamboyant rockers, but have since made the art of OTT 80s cock rock their own.

And the sold out show started as a triumph: support act Wayward Sons thundered in with riffs, Bonham-like drum beats – and a bass player who was happy to pretend his bass was a rifle, cock it, load it – and shoot the crowd. Highlight ‘Until the End’ had fists in the air – and fingers gripped in devil horn signs.

Second support, Inglorious, added showbiz sparkle to the proceedings: Singer Nathan James, an alumni of TV’s The Voice, had a falsetto howl and a sequinned jacket that made the age-old theatre sparkle – and the band created smoky Deep Purple licks and White Snake grooves that set things up nicely for the main event.

And so enter Steel Panther. Ridiculous. Over the top – and glorious, for the most part. They produced a tongue-in-cheek show that was mainly understood with a wink and ironic smirk.

Steel Panther, live at Wacken Open Air Festival (photo credit: Frank Schwichtenberg)

All were adorned in spandex, the bassist had several mirrors to preen himself between songs, and singer Ralph Saenz admitted to having a ‘lack of girth’ in the trouser department to hilarious cheers.

Songs such as ‘Gloryhole’ and ‘Goin’ in the backdoor’ were met with equal part applause, equal part teared-laughter. And a fifteen minute mid-set guitar solo (complete with one-man-band drum kit and nods to Black Sabbath and Slash) brought the house down.

Where the joke started to go too far was when the calls from the band of “get your titties out” were obliged with by some of the crowd – and then relentlessly encouraged to the point of it becoming uncomfortable. This is where the line between ironic joke and grim reality, in my opinion, became perhaps a bit too… well… real.

Rock n’ Roll chaos ensued as show stopper ‘Death to all but Metal’ culminated in a stage invasion by female members of the crowd – Wham! Bam! Thank you m’am! And good night!

By sending-up all that was wrong with 80s rock and roll, Steel Panther are a hilarious proposition. Tickets do come with an ’18+’ disclaimer on them, all I hope is that the joke doesn’t go too far – and some signs imply that it might.

Or is that what Van Halen would have wanted? Who knows…