STEEL PANTHER Fall Tour Stops at Toad's Place in​ New Haven, CT

Review By: Kat Gullage
Photos By: Holly Roy Photography

I trudged through a monsoon to get to the venue on Halloween Eve. The bottom of my jeans were drenched and my raincoat weighed about a thousand pounds. Who else but Steel Panther would blanket the town with excessive moisture on a Thursday night?


LOWLIVES, the opener, was a Brit/USA post-grunge alt rock fusion. Brits Lee Downer (guitar, vocals) and Luke Johnson (drums) joined with Steve Lucarelli (bass) and Jaxon Moore (guitar) in LA. Frontman Lee set the tone “Let’s have a fucking good time. This song is called “Freaking Out”.” And they tore straight into the title track. I was immediately drawn to them. I had half expected a band with some sort of satirical unserious vibe and also wasn’t prepared for how much I would fancy them right from the start. They rolled through an eight song set with five from their 2024 LP, Freaking Out. “Thank you. This second one is called “Hey You” (2020 single), Lee announced before lining up the next one. “This is the first single off the record we released last year.” It was “Liar”. “We’ve never been here before. Do y’all go to this university over here? Or are you just normal? Which is fine! Well, here’s a song about hating everyone.” They performed their 2021 single, “I Don’t Like You”, appropriately followed by “You Don’t Care”. “If you guys dig Alice In Chains, you’ll like this, this is “Swan Dive”. He had me at Alice In Chains. However the song didn’t give me 90’s AIC, it evoked 2013 AIC, like “Hollow” or “Phantom Limb”. Either way, if it conjures Jerry Cantrell, I’m down. (Kindly pass me a moist towellette. Thank you.) They played their latest single, “Loser” before giving Steel Panther a shout out and telling a story about one of the band members going to a fancy museum while listening to SP’s “Poontang Boomerang” in their headphones. They closed with their 2018 single “Burn Forever”. I dug their live show, even though they coulda turned Jaxson’s guitar up a smidge, so I bought their CD. If you’re into like Seether or Puddle of Mudd, wrapped up in Bush (the band ya pervs!), sprinkled with punk, check out LOWLIVES.


It was time for the headliner, Steel Panther, a parody glam metal band frozen in 1987 known for their filthy lyrics and humor. The group from LA has six studio albums and tapped five of em for their twelve song set. The club had filled in despite the weather outside. The members took their respective spots and tore into the first of five from Feel The Steel with “Eyes Of A Panther”, flanked by two scantily clad strippers who worked a pair of wobbly, short poles like total pros. Lemme tell ya, these girls were talented. Lead guitarist Satchel (Russ Parrish) shredded right out of the gate, reminding me why I’ve always thought he’s really skilled. Two new dancers took over on the poles for “Let Me Cum In” (Balls Out) and they chose a random asian girl from the audience to join them on stage for “Asian Hooker”. Frontman Michael Starr (Ralph Saenz) hyped up the fans, or “fanthers”. “New Haven! Are you ready to rock tonight?!” He then did a crazy ass back and forth sing-a-long with the crowd that started simple and became impossible. “Holy shit you guys got that! I don’t even know what I said!” A cut from On The Prowl was next with “Friends With Benefits”. “How many of you were here last time?” The entire band raised their hands. Satchel told a joke about catching Starr, back in the day, doing a line of coke off of Tommy Lee’s junk and then licking it clean. Starr proclaimed “I was trying to taste Pamela!” Up next was “Poontang Boomerang” (Lower The Bar) and the male dominated crowd sang it word for word. “We’re celebrating a milestone! We didn’t die yet!” The jokes kept coming in this pornographic stand up meets 80s hair metal show. “Our drummer went to Yale! Yeah, well he walked by it.” It was time for Satchel’s solo, which had a clear Eddie Van Halen thread in it, he nailed it and segued effortlessly into “Turn Out The Lights”. Satchel spoke to the fanthers, “You know people risk their lives everyday…to smuggle drugs into this country. This one’s called “Magical Vagina” and if you have one, feel free to whip it out.” Bassist Spyder (Joe Lester) introduced some individually wrapped boob shaped candies, allegedly filled with cocaine. He took pride as he gleefully threw a few out into the all ages crowd. Honestly, these should be sold at the merch booth. Two from Balls Out were next. The first was “Weenie Ride” and the second was “17 Girls In A Row” which introduced the infamous part of their performance, where they invite female fans on stage. They actually had to coax girls to get on stage this time. “Don’t worry, you won’t get fired! This is something you can add to your resume! If your boyfriend is telling you No, then dump his ass!” They did finally gather seventeen souls and everybody had a great time up there. I didn’t join them, but I have done it in the past. One of the ladies up there somehow convinced the band to let her boyfriend, some rando named Christian, sit in on the drums. Satchel proclaimed “He can do his girlfriend in the ass tonight if he does a good job.” Motivated indeed, the kid fucking killed it as he aced “Death To All But Metal” with the band and earned a crowd chant of “Fuck That Ass!” Christian was, without question, the night’s MVP. Satchel announced that their singer would be playing the guitar for the first time ever in New Haven. Starr did indeed grab one but played it for only the first line or two of “Community Property”. The fanthers belted it out word for word. “Did any of you bring your girlfriends tonight? That’s like bringing a taco to Taco Bell!” “Thank you for cumming out tonight! Heavy metal will never die!” Starr then tossed his hat into the crowd. It was thrown back to him and this went on for a few more tosses with fans before he tossed it to each band member. The bassist caught it with ease, Starr then tossed it to Satchel who attempted to catch it with the neck of his guitar and failed. “I know what you're thinking. What a terrible throw!” He succeeded in the next attempt and then the drummer, Styx Zadinia (Darren Leader), caught the hat on one stick. They wrapped the set with “Glory Hole” (All You Can Eat) and thanked everyone for a great show. I’ve seen Steel Panther multiple times and they find a way to keep it fresh. Beneath the filthy fun and flash, these guys are legit musicians, hilarious comedians, and expert crowd-workers. If you know what you’re getting into, you will laugh and be entertained by their sleaze rock show. I don’t know if it was Steel Panther or Mother Nature, but we all left this show wet.

STEEL PANTHER