STEEL PANTHER – Bergen – USF Verftet

The sleazy and profane hard rocking fucks known as Steel Panther visited the beautiful city of Bergen on a cloudy and yet warm Monday evening, and I’ll be the first in line to tell you that I wasn’t really sure what to expect from their live appearance apart from the fact that I was hoping they’d be entertaining as hell. To be honest with you, I didn’t really pay them much attention until a few months ago when an obnoxious and yet strangely cool colleague of mine started raving about how awesome and fun they were to witness on stage. What the heck, I thought; I’ll give those titty-loving suckers a chance and just kind of go with the flow and see what happens. After all, it’s all just fun and parody when it comes to Steel Panther.   

The opening act, a Norwegian punk rock combo of sorts named Frk. Fryd, entertained the audience for about 25 minutes, but they did absolutely nothing for me. Their music simply didn’t appeal to me and they appeared a bit inexperienced and nervous on stage. The audience did give them a somewhat positive response and applause and so on, but they or their songs didn’t move me even remotely. They left me feeling indifferent, I suppose.

At approximately 9:35 PM, the lights went down and "The Number of the Beast" by the almighty Iron Maiden blared out the speakers. The first couple of rows at the front of the stage went ape-shit and there was definitely a lot of energy, anticipation and intensity in the air. The size of the crowd in general was quite decent, but I don’t think the gig was totally sold out. You could easily move around a little and so on. A lot of people were also dressed as if they were still living in 1985, which was quite fun to witness. Following the introduction, Steel Panther entered the stage and things were off to a good start by means of the song "Pussywhipped". There was a big back-drop with the logo on it, but apart from that not much else…well, the bassist Lexxi Foxx did have his make-up kit and mirror and shit onstage, so it wasn’t just the back-drop that was there to adorn the stage, I guess. The band members were all energetic and smiling, and the audience clearly loved their profane and over-the-top onstage behavior and lyrics. The sound was nice and crisp. Hats off to the sound engineers for that. Next came "Tomorrow Night" followed by the extremely funny and politically incorrect song entitled "Asian Hooker". The sleazy spirits were flying high and the audience loved every minute of it. The in-between song banter was quite funny too, namely the dialogues between vocalist Michael Starr and guitar-slinger Satchel. The following two songs, "Just like Tiger Woods" and "Eyes of a Panther", were very well received, to say the least, but the improvised "Kuk i Fitte" jam that the band came up with there and then left everybody in stitches. A guitar solo followed "Gangbang at the Old Folks Home" and "If I was the King" before the band launched into "Turn out the Lights". Up next was a bunch of hits that whipped the crowd into a frenzy in places: "Party like Tomorrow’s the End of the World", "Girl from Oklahoma" and "The Burden of Being Wonderful". Inevitably, the band then invited a whole bunch of girls on stage to take part in "17 Girls in a Row". I dare say most males in the audience dug this. Steel Panther wrapped up their regular set by means of "Glory Hole" and "Death to All but Metal", but after five minutes of waiting and fans screaming their lungs out for more they came back onstage and delivered the final punches in the shape of "Community Property" and "Party All Day (Fuck All Night)",which went down a storm. The show finished at approximately 11:30 PM.  

All in the all it was a lot of fun seeing Steel Panther on stage simply because they’re so insanely over-the-top and ridiculous that it’s just…well, it’s both entertaining and fun, but the fact that they can actually play and handle their instruments makes the whole thing even more ludicrous somehow. I dare say most people at the show had a great evening and a lot of laughs. I know I did.

 

Setlist:

Pussywhipped

Tomorrow Night

Asian Hooker

Just Like Tiger Woods

Eyes of a Panther

Kuk i Fitte Jam

Gangbang at the Old Folks Home

If I was the King

Guitar solo

Turn Out the Lights

Party like Tomorrow’s the End of the World

Girl from Oklahoma

The Burden of Being Wonderful

17 Girls in a Row

Glory Hole

Death to All but Metal

 

Encores:

Community Property

Party All Day (Fuck All Night)

 

Line-up:

Michael Starr – lead vocals

Satchel – Guitars

Lexxi Foxx – Bass

Stix Zadinia – Drums