Steel Panther Bring The Party To Manchester

For many Toby Jepson will always be fondly remembered for being the lead singer of Scarborough's most famous rock group, Little Angels. Whilst that might have been many years ago now these days Jepson is part of Wayward Sons.

Given the opportunity to support Steel Panther was never going to be a wasted one; he and the band won over many new fans in the process. His voice though suited tracks such as Joke's On You rather than those where he had to raise his voice. He said at the end of their spot that he had never had a bad gig in Manchester and tonight was no exception.

Talking of jokes, you might think that after over 10 years the Joke was beginning to wear a little thin with Steel Panther. For those not in the know the group are a send up of mid 80's American rock acts such as Motley Crue, Poison, Cinderella and Van Halen. Just as Spinal Tap have done it before but to a lesser extent, Steel Panther have some catchy songs that perhaps might have crossed over to a wider audience were it not for some of the lyrical content of the tracks.

The show might look spontaneous but it is a well acted and executed performance. As they arrive on stage to Van Helen's Everybody Wants Some you almost feel like you had travelled back in time. The lights go up and there they are - the four of them looking as if Motley Crue had arrived back in town.

Eyes of A Panther is as good as anything Bon Jovi have done. As they launch into the dialogue with the audience, in the past this has sometimes go on too long but now they have honed it down so that at the end of every well acted speaking part, it links into the next track.

The send up of Motley Crue is followed by a Def Leppard out take that has something to do with drummer Rick Allen that could be misconstrued as in bad taste but then again that is Steel Panther all over, nothing or no one is safe.

Lead singer Michael Starr and the rest of the band might throw the rule book right out of the window and essentially it is one big party from when they arrive on stage until the encore.

They invite a girl up on stage, it turns out she is from Bradford, the band have never heard of the place but they still try to serenade her as she looks on nervously never knowing what might happen next.

The band at least in the UK are as big as some of the rock groups they try to parody: Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World makes the Victoria Warehouse explode as if seeing Motley Crue back at the Apollo in 1984.

Death to All But Metal closes a set that makes you wish for the days of the hair metal bands all over again, but then when you have Steel Panther you have the next best thing. The joke is not over yet.