Live Reviews : Slash & Steel Panther @ Festival Hall, Melbourne 26/02/2015

Images: Matt Allan
Words: Jonathon Besanko

Click here to view full gallery

It’d been a little while for myself since I was as excited for a gig as I was for when this one when it was first announced. Like so many, I grew up on the music of Slash and Guns n’ Roses, and having recently gotten into the brilliant and vulgar 80s glam-parody stylings of Steel Panther, this seemed like a match made in heaven! As I made my way to Festival Hall on Dudley Street, a melange of winding roads, overpasses, and humble culture, I was beaming with excitement. This was only enhanced when I stepped inside shortly before Steel Panther were due to take the stage. Summoned in by the familiar and welcomed music of Iron Maiden, enthusiastic cries of “Run to the Hills!” accompanied a strong turnout (so much so that the majority of the seating area was full-out, and the floor already quite marked with the feet of many). With fans of a variety of ages donning an even longer list of band shirts, the likes of AC/DC, Gn’R (of course), ZZ Top, recent Soundgarden tour shirts, and more, were all featured.

The lights dimmed and Steel Panther roared onto stage beneath a dizzying array of blinding lights and deliberately-cut spandex. As vocalist Michael Starr cried out “You ready to party!” the ascending cheer that followed echoed throughout the wide hall. Even with their already typically flamboyant, vulgar, and boisterous style, Steel Panther are undoubtedly a force to be reckoned with when it comes to a live arena.

Managing to perfectly replicate the ridiculousness and enjoyably over-the-top nature of ’80s glam metal, Starr felt at times a combination between David Lee Roth and Bret Michaels, whilst guitarist Satchel the reincarnation of a not-dead Eddie Van Halen. Festival Hall seemed the perfect place to set up a live show for this band. Between the sizeable stage (at least by Melbourne standards), the light-work was top-notch and Steel Panther sounded tight. Even with their sexually deviant shenanigans aside, the four members that comprise this band aren’t pushovers, either. They might be a “comedy rock/metal” band, but that doesn’t diminish from the fact they’re regardless talented musicians and singers. The notes Starr is capable of reaching would make even some of the best blush. This isn’t even to mention Satchel’s clear mastery over his guitar, alongside the fact bassist Lexxi Foxx and drummer Stix Zadinia hold up the other end to a riff-laden, rhythmic bastion.

Managing to get the whole crowd to sing songs like “Girl From Oklahoma” and “Community Property”, one of the highlights was at the beginning when, following Michael’s accidental drop of the mic during a climactic set moment, Satchel goes, “Wait, wait, stop the show! You do that again and I’m firing you! See, this is why Slash fired Axl Rose. It’s for stuff like this!” It made everyone laugh.

Before long, Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators burst out onto stage, the floor alive with reverb. From the opening note, this talented group of individuals were tight from start to end, and never once let up. If it wasn’t in the riffs, Kennedy’s air-cutting vocals, or the uncanny rhythm section, as a unit, they were phenomenal. Even after thirty years, Slash still sounds just as much the fantastic guitarist now as he was when he first arrived onto the scene in the mid-to-late ’80s.

Beneath the wild light displays that painted them as true rock troops, they rose from one track to the next with all the ferocity of a train traveling at over 200km/h. Ever the showmen, it wasn’t long before Slash’s solo break kicked in. It was almost hypnotic watching him. A man who helped define his era in the 1980s, and someone who clearly has taken great pride in refining his craft and putting his heart and soul in his work. The indigos and golds that lit him up cut a silhouette of a man whose status is legendary in the rock world, and whose place in it remains deservedly strong.

It wasn’t long after that before the band kicked in with the Gn’R track, “You Could Be Mine”. Needless to say, the crowd went ballistic! Everyone singing in harmony, and jumping and dancing around. It was an awesome thing to be a part of. This only carried on again after Slash and the band’s impressive double-neck guitar performance of “Anastasia” which led into the following familiar riff of “Sweet Child O’ Mine”. As everyone went absolutely nuts for this – yours truly included! – Slash later made the joke following Myles’ introductions of the band about who was trying to humiliate the others more (since Myles lightly joked over Slash being stage-shy).

Closing out the night, they performed a surprising but brilliant cover of the Led Zeppelin classic, “The Immigrant Song”. Then, lastly “Paradise City”. This went off! It was an explosive and perfect end to the night that was well sent off with a burst of silver confetti.

All in all, what a night!

Related Posts

• 

  Markus Saastamoinen – Puzzle Pieces
• 

  HJELVIK – Welcome to Hel
• 

  AC/DC – Power Up
• 

  Depravity – Grand Malevolence