Steel Panther cruised into PDX for their On The Prowl tour to McMenaman’s Crystal Ballroom. The Crystal Ballroom is one of the best and historic venues in Portland.
Steel Panther are a mix of 80s glam rock, they call it ‘Metal,’ meets ‘adult’ themed stand-up comedy. Their humor is ‘politically incorrect’ it’s a staple in their music, as well as the stage banter. Once you’ve been to a Steel Panther show, you’ll want to go back again, again and again. It’s an extremely entertaining experience.
A typical Steel Panther crowd is comprised of; 80s chick ‘burnouts’ that have seen better days, 25-30 something women that pull off the look, but weren’t there and 20 year old ‘meat heads’ that show up in spandex, wearing countless bandannas, wearing rock t-shirt that they purchased at Target and a wig that’s worse than the one that KISS’ Paul Stanley wears. There’s lots of ‘normies’ that you wouldn’t peg as a ‘Panther’ fan. Some people ‘don’t get’ the humor as no less than six staff members at the venue ‘refused’ to work the show, because of Steel Panther’s ‘misogynistic nature.’ They weren’t missed…
Steel Panther were supported by Tragedy who are a hard rock/metal act that reimagines Bee Gees tunes and beyond, Crobot a hard rock act that performed a potent set of ‘original’ material. Crobot was a strange choice considering there was a ‘novelty’ act that preceded them and a ‘comedy/parody’ act that followed them.
It dawned on me a few weeks ago that the current Steel Panther line-up features 3/4 of the classic Atomic Punks line-up. I still miss bassist Lexxi Foxx, while Spyder is a more skilled musician, there’s a little something missing with Lexxi not in the line-up or perhaps a little of the luster has been buffed off? Michael Starr and Satchel still take the lead in this circus sideshow and involve Stix and Spyder when indicated. The Portland crowd was treated to Panther classics “Eye Of The Panther,” “ Let Me Come In,” “Asian Hooker,” “Death To All But Metal” and closers “Community Property” and “Gloryhole.” “The Shocker,” “Just Like Tiger Woods” and “17 Girls In A Row” are sorely missed. New tunes in the set from ‘On The Prowl,’ “Ain’t Dead Yet,” and “Friends With Benefits,” I like a lot better than “1987” which doesn’t do much for me. Having said that, “1987” and the rest of the new material went over relatively well with the Portland audience. A good show, lots of laughs, solid attendance for a weekday show and early in the week at that.