Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2019
City: St. Louis, MO
Venue: The Pageant
Opening act(s): Stitched Up Heart
Headlining act: Steel Panther
Stitched Up Heart Setlist:
The Skin
Warrior
Catch Me When I Fall
Problems
Finally Free
Lost
Monster
Steel Panther Setlist:
Eyes Of A Panther
Let Me Cum In
All I Wanna Do Is Fuck (Myself Tonight)
Asian Hooker
Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World
Poontang Boomerang
Fuck Everybody
I Ain’t Buying What You’re Selling
Weenie Ride
Party All Day (Fuck All Night)
17 Girls In A Row
Community Property
Death To All But Metal
———————
Gloryhole
Notes:
- Eighth time seeing Steel Panther, which ties them with Aerosmith for second most times I’ve seen a band headline.
- First time seeing “All I Wanna Do Is Fuck (Myself Tonight),” “Fuck Everybody,” and “I Ain’t Buying What You’re Selling” live.
- The band introductions after “Let Me Cum In” included a snippet of Def Leppard’s “Photograph.”
- A girl named Bailey was brought on stage before “Weenie Ride” and each member of the band sang a tiny snippet of a ‘made up’ song to her.
- Show #12 at this venue; first since October 14, 2019.
Videos:
Review:
For the fifth time in the last six years, my final concert of the year would be Steel Panther. The final show of 2014 was at the House Of Blues in Chicago, but 2015, 2016, 2018, and this year were all at The Pageant in St. Louis. The party that Steel Panther brings is always a fitting way to end a calendar year of concerts, but it’s especially fitting to end this year.
The year began in this very same venue way back on February 8, when I got to see Tesla headline a show for the first time. From there, it was a record breaking year that was one of the most ambitious I’ve ever had. I saw 17 concerts, breaking the record of 15 set in 2017. I went east to New York for the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony and west to see Def Leppard five times over eight days in Las Vegas.
Steel Panther released their fifth album, Heavy Metal Rules, in September and returned to The Pageant for what would be my eighth time seeing them since 2012.
My wife and I arrived at the venue early enough to wait in the Halo Bar, which has the double benefit of being inside and warm while getting slightly early entry into the concert venue. So around 6:40, the doors were opened and we headed in to grab our seats.
Steel Panther shows are always general admission all around (while other bands are usually reserved in the balcony, GA elsewhere) so we planned on getting upstairs quickly to grab seats in the front row of the balcony. Much to my surprise, the balcony was closed for this show, which was the first time in all the years I’ve been seeing the band at this particular venue.
So instead of having a nice, cushioned seat with ample space and a raised, unobstructed view… I wound up on a hard chair seated just behind the general admission pit. So I would have a closer view, but the chance of obstruction from tall people standing in front of me.
Naturally, I wound up with tall people in front of me (which I knew would happen no matter where I chose to sit) and a larger fellow next to me, creating a cramped space. He was nice and very talkative, which provided entertainment ahead of the concert.
Tonight’s opening band was Stitched Up Heart, a newer band I wasn’t familiar with. They took the stage at 8:00 and from the very first words, I knew the singer was lip-syncing. It was painfully obvious, and even when I thought the songs they played were decent, I was distracted by the lip-syncing.
The constant changes between a dead mic and a live mic were distracting, even when the singer ventured out into the crowd by walking on the table on the right side of the stage.
At other times, I was suspicious of if the guitarist and bassist were even playing live.
It was unfortunate because I thought they were actually decent when it came to the songs. But if the singer can’t scream live as she did on the recording, perhaps she shouldn’t be screaming at all. When I hear that Paul Stanley is using tracks after screaming for 45 years, it’s annoying but I ‘get’ it. You shouldn’t be relying on tapes when you’re virtually a brand new band!
Their set was short at just 30 minutes, which again spotlighted how sad it was to be lip-syncing.
Steel Panther went on at 9:00 and once again opened with “Eyes Of A Panther” for the fourth show in a row. I get it, since it sort of functions as their ‘theme’ song, but I wouldn’t mind the opener being switched up.
“Let Me Cum In” followed, which was nice since I’d only seen that one live once before.
As usual, lengthy comedy ensued after the first two songs, complete with band introductions and a snippet of Def Leppard’s “Photograph” with drummer Stix Zadinia doing his best Rick Allen impression.
And the band joked about selling out the bottom half of the venue, so even they made light of the balcony not being open for the first time at one of their shows. The bottom of the venue was certainly packed though.
The first of only three new songs to be played during the evening was Heavy Metal Rules‘ lead single “All I Wanna Do Is Fuck (Myself Tonight),” which I knew would be a fantastic live song and it will certainly carry forward as a new live classic.
A couple of old favorites returned since last year’s concert was the ‘Sunset Strip Live’ show that featured a selection of covers in place of originals. So it was nice to see “Asian Hooker” return, complete with a female fan that was “10% Asian” joining the band on stage.
“Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World” followed before the sole Lower The Bar song to be featured, “Poontang Boomerang.”
Steel Panther returned to Heavy Metal Rules for “Fuck Everybody” and then stripped things down for “I Ain’t Buying What You’re Selling.” The full band was front and center, including Stix on the keyboard.
It’s always nice to see something new for the first time, but it wouldn’t have been my first choice for what to include in the set. I was really hoping for “I’m Not Your Bitch,” which is my favorite song from the latest album but sadly it was not featured tonight.
A girl named Bailey, who had gotten the band’s attention earlier in the evening by flashing them, was brought on stage and each member of the band took his turn in singing her a two line song ‘made up’ on the spot.
She remained on stage for “Weenie Ride,” which I hadn’t seen since just my second show on July 25, 2012.
Way more than 17 girls were brought on stage as the band kicked off “Party All Day (Fuck All Night),” and of course several of them flashed the crowd… Including Bailey’s mom, so that was a first.
“17 Girls In A Row,” “Community Property,” and “Death To All But Metal” closed out the main set.
During the encore, the crowd began to chant “GLORYHOLE,” and Steel Panther soon returned to play just that.
Steel Panther never fails to deliver when it comes to their live show and tonight was once again really fun. I’ve now seen them headline eight times, which ties Aerosmith for second most. Of course I hope to see Aerosmith at least two more times, but I definitely see Steel Panther passing them up…
Probably next December.
Links:
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