Steel Panther Were On The Prowl in San Diego
Photos and words by Alex Matthews
Photo: Alex Matthews
Steel Panther, the outrageous and comedic glam metal band hailing from Los Angeles California brought their 2023 On the Prowl World Tour to the House of Blues San Diego. The band which formed in the early 2000’s has risen to incredible heights, playing rock and roll’s biggest stages, releasing six albums, and touring seemingly nonstop all over the world. However, as referenced by lead singer Michael Starr onstage, the band started from somewhat humbler beginnings in San Diego. They regularly played at Typhoon Saloon in Pacific Beach in the early days, with a Wednesday night residency that is remembered somewhat hazily by anyone who got to experience some of those crazy shows.
On February 24th of this year the band released its newest album On The Prowl featuring the super catchy single “1987.” Designed as an homage to some of the fantastic bands from that era the song is classic Steel Panther with funny verses, a catchy chorus, pounding drums, and an absolutely insane guitar solo delivered by lead guitarist, Satchel. Also somewhat new for Steel Panther since 2022 is the permanent addition of their newest member, the bass player known as Spyder. At the San Diego show, Spyder proved a worthy foil to the onstage antics of Starr, Satchel, and always hilarious drummer Stix Zadinia. The bass sound of the entire set was a surprising change, with the low end sounding particularly punchy and powerful throughout.
In addition to the aforementioned “1987” the band played through a slew of their craziest and most popular songs including “Community Property,” “Death to All but Metal,” and “Eyes of a Panther.” And as usual Starr and Satchel joked constantly throughout the set cracking jokes about the audience and songs, but mostly about themselves, with Satchel even remarking at one point “What this crowd does tonight will reverberate with metal audiences all the way to Temecula!” Another funny highlight of the set was an acoustic “Girl from Oklahoma” with Starr on acoustic guitar, Satchel still on lead, Stix on Keyboard, and Spyder unfortunately forced to play wind chimes. The sold out crowd was crazy for the band as usual, many drinks were flowing, and the San Diego metal faithful rocked the night away with neon and animal print as far as the eye could see.
The live energy of a Steel Panther concert is something that must simply be experienced, part comedy show, part guitar/drum clinic, part heavy metal, part pure rock and roll fun, they bring an energy and excitement different than any other band touring today. Here’s hoping for many more returns to San Diego from these crazy heavy metal humorists.
