Live Review: Steel Panther, The Art

It's not often that you walk through the streets to a gig and bear witness to a sea of lycra, spandex and wigs and hear guys and girls arguing the virtues of “gold-digging whores” and “Asian hookers”, and debating the merits of the “shocker”. Then again, it's not every day that Steel Panther are in our humble town playing their own headlining show.

As a sell-out performance, my friends and I, dressed as some of the aforementioned punters, were greeted with a line that stretched from Metro City entrance all the way down the street. It was great to see so many people showing their support for Sydney-based openers The Art, who entertained the crowd with some sexually charged '70s style rock'n'roll. The band had a strong and prominent presence on stage, and kept the crowd rowdy and ready for the eagerly anticipated headliners.

It's easy to see why Steel Panther are so appealing; they've taken the most hedonistic of all music genres and made everything about it a whole lot more excessive by infusing an excessive blend of pulsating, sex-fuelled glam rock. We're talking hair spray and leggings, drugs, misogyny, STDs, more drugs, on-stage nudity and make-up reapplication every 15 minutes. Half of these things definitely happened. As for the other half… Well, they were certainly talked about, and I'd be willing to bet it all that they happened at some point afterward. Blasting onto the stage and launching into the ball-tearing Supersonic Sex Machine, they had the crowd in ecstasy from the word go, with lead vocalist Michael Starr displaying the strength of his vocals and proving what a fantastic performer he is. The Shocker saw the crowd raise their hands in unison to perform the sexually taboo gesture, which had the band exclaiming: “Perth, you guys fucking rule!” There was plenty of band banter between songs, and although it seemed a little rehearsed, their content was hilarious and met with roars of approval from the audience. The band encored with the popular sing-alongs Community Property and 17 Girls In A Row, before jokingly advising the crowd to get on the cocaine hit and party all night. Steel Panther is more than a gig; it's an event, and everyone involved will be hoping they're back to party on our shores again soon.