04.08.2018 Steel Panther

Wacken Open Air XXIX

Wacken (Germany)

(Pentax K-5 with Sigma AF 70-200mm 2.8 EX DC APO HSM II)

Risque lyrics that invite to rumble along paired with great classic glam metal music and of course tits. So simple the recipe for success of Steel Panther can be summarized. According to that motto the boards were labeled that were risen by the guys in the first rows.
They were showing the usual requests like “Show Your Tits” or for a “Gloryhole” that were all satisfied during the show. Usual routine the guys around singer Michael Starr were opening the show with the smooth track “Goin’ In The Backdoor”. Of course, Lexxi Foxx on bass had to check his perfect look frequently and guitarist Satchel was having his verbal skirmish with Starr. The only one that was a little bit left out was drummer Stix Zadina.
Everything is a huge parody on the common hair metal clichés with girls, drugs, sex and rock n’ roll. You have to like it or hate it because sometimes it is really somehow over the top what the guys are presenting. Especially when like usual during “17 Girls In A Row” the obligatory masses of woman is called to the stage to party together with Steel Panther and in the end of course to strip. During their last gig that I watched on Wacken back in 2014 it was only one woman that took of her bra, this time it were nearly all of them. It may have been due to the temperatures. Unfortunately, as a consequence thereof the women are really made to look silly whereby I find scary what people are willing to do to spend some minutes on a main stage at Wacken together with a metal band. But anyhow.
The show was good as usual but in my opinion there could have been less blathering and some more music as especially in the beginning the stories that were told had really epic broadness. Atmosphere was also good as usual, the choice of songs that was made was mainly formed by their first successful album “Feel The Steel” from 2009 and as I already wrote above: Either you like it or you hate it. I liked this years’ show not as much as I did the last what might be due to this times unfortunately very tiring and little imaginative fooling around between the songs.