Steel Panther and Winger, Kentish Town Forum, London 2023

Fresh from their appearances on the Monsters of Rock Cruise Winger are looking and sounding confident tonight. It’s a short set by their standards and unsurprisingly it’s a set of greatest hits. While they do have their own fans in the audience, they are aware of their special guest status and, that, this is not the night for deep cuts. So they go in strong with perfectly performed ‘Can’t Get Enuff’ and ‘Seventeen’. The set is focussed on the first few albums with the excellent ‘Down Incognito’ to follow. The only new track is the first single from the new album ‘Seven’, ‘Proud Desperado’.

After being the butt of jokes from Beavis and Butthead, but in fact being Grammy nominated, Kip is now made of steel, and when he starts introducing the wrong song invites the crowd to boo him. They do in obedience, but it’s very half hearted as Winger have brought their own hard core audience to this gig, are a very slick machine and otherwise don’t put a foot wrong. Kip’s lower voice has some Rock ‘n’ Roll rawness (this is not their first date on the tour by any means), but when he starts soaring up to the high notes in ‘Miles Away’ his voice is pure and clear. Reb Beach (also Whitesnake) demonstrates both his ability to play the bluesiness required from a track like this, whilst his extended solos in the set mostly demonstrate the sheer speed that he can still play, with plenty of finger tapping and whammy, as befits a support slot for Steel Panther.

Speaking of which, Steel Panther’s singer Michael Starr bounces onstage to join in with ‘Heading For a Heartbreak’, which is a genius move, as he demonstrates how, without the comedy, he can still totally cut it as a straight Hard Rock frontman along with the best. He takes the lead vocal, fitting in easily with the harmonies from the rest of the band, and is clearly in his element. The crowd react warmly to this early appearance. He works the crowd, and with his glam attire we are reminded visually of the heyday of original bands like Winger in the late eighties. He flies off stage flapping his arms with a job well done. It’s a genius move for Winger too, as the energy is now super high and, with Kip pirouetting (he is of course also a ballet dancer for real), in the home straight they go for a strong finish with ‘Easy Come Easy Go’ and ‘Madalaine’. The crowd start singing loudly enough to take the roof off. Kip signs off, holding his head and his bass high, and balancing it on its end as a party trick to go. A celebrated return for a true blue blooded eighties band.

The Wolf Cut wigs in the audience tell us that London is up for a party and the audience are well oiled by the time Steel Panther burst into their set with ‘Eyes of A Panther’. It’s not long before things take a crude turn, which is frankly what the crowd are waiting for, and there is a joyous reception for ‘Let Me Cum In’, followed up by ‘Asian Hooker’, with its strategically placed female nudity, which ratchets things up a few notches.   Amongst all the jokes and high jinks and, as if to remind the crowd that the band do truly also sound great, Satchel introduces Michael Starr as the greatest heavy metal singer ever, before adding joking insults about his age and capacity to be a bad influence for kids to drop out of school and cavort with strippers. In turn Satchel is introduced as one of the most underrated guitar players and gives Reb Beach a run for his money in some of his solos. Hidden in the comedy is the reminder to the audience that these guys could really cut it as a straight heavy metal band if that is what they wanted to do.

New bassist Stryper fits right in and is not shy to add his own banter to proceedings. He allegedly throws out “candy” to the audience that contains cocaine, although Satchel admits its only “crystal meth.” Running that line, as the band do like a tight rope, between acceptable and unacceptable humour (after being introduced as a 4.1 star Uber driver in his spare time) drummer Stix goes on to do his Rick Allen impression. Exhorting that they are bringing heavy metal back “till Biden shits his spandex instead of his pants” the humour is designed to elicit a wince.  It is essential when attending Steel Panther concerts that you do get the joke, but with the audience firmly in on the fact that, primarily the band are sending up glam metal rather than anything else, it’s fairly no holds barred. The audience know all the words and are singing along, taking even more delight when the words are off-colour.

Whenever girls are objectified on stage, they are up there willingly and clearly love every moment. Indeed the single girl called up for the improvised ‘Song for a Girl’ and ‘Girl from Oklahoma’ is a great singer and gives Michael a run for his money, and so you have to wonder if she was up there to showcase her vocal talents. Also, there are more girls that there is space for that want to go on stage for the gang invasion for ‘Community Property’. What struck me is that, though quite inebriated for sure, there was a real joie de vivre about the way the girls sang along and danced with gusto, that made the humour feminist rather than anti-feminist overall.

Instead of being the climax (see what I did there) as it was at Download, there is still room for two more songs ‘Party All Day…’ and ‘Glory Hole’ and a few party tricks with Michael Starr’s hat before the band leave to screams of adulation. After that the amount of spilt beer and discarded clothing abandoned on the way out of the venue is testament to the good time that was had by all tonight. Would I take my mother to see Steel Panther? No.. but I think if I did she would enjoy it!!!

Dawn Osborne