PHOTOS: Steel Panther and Freddie Fabbri at Circle Drive-In in Dickson City, 09/12/20
Steel Panther is foul-mouthed, raucous, and offensive – and people love it.
On Saturday, Sept. 12, fans drove from states away to see the ’80s glam metal parody band play up the raunchy conventions of the decade of excess at the Circle Drive-In Theatre in Dickson City, one of only two stops on the Fast Cars & Loud Guitars Tour that served as a test run for future drive-in concerts. Judging by the reactions, there will be more to come.
Big hair, heavy makeup, tight spandex, and studded leather vests matched the aesthetic of songs like “Pussywhipped,” “Asian Hooker,” “Poontang Boomerang,” “Party Like Tomorrow Is the End of the World,” “Community Property,” and “Death to All But Metal” that both celebrated and poked fun at heavy metal of the era. While they couldn’t get as up close and personal with fans as the song titles implied, they made good use of the movie screen by showing comedy skits in between tunes and joked with the audience and each other regularly.
After bassist Lexxi Foxxx applied lipstick and hairspray while looking into a handheld mirror, one highlight was seeing vocalist Michael Starr dress up as and imitate Ozzy Osbourne for a cover of “Crazy Train,” and just to solidify what kind of show this was, they closed the set with their dirty single “Gloryhole.”
The only guy in Northeastern Pennsylvania who could match the crude humor and raunchy stories of Steel Panther is Freddie Fabbri, so the radio personality, DJ, and comedian started the night off as an emcee by playing some hair metal through the speakers while injecting anecdotes about his experiences in “certain parking spots” of the drive-in, getting all the “slingshots and peashooters” ready for the debauchery.
“Let’s get the word out that live shows are fucking possible during the quarantine because everybody needs to fucking know. We need to spread the word and get all the fucking bands touring again, goddammit!” Starr shouted.
“Make sure to tag the Circle Drive-In so everybody knows where to fucking go!”
“And so we can come back here and play for you guys again!” Foxxx added.
The Los Angeles-based group has played to local audiences in Stroudsburg and Bethlehem before, so if conditions improve, expect them to be back in 2021.
See NEPA Scene’s photos of Steel Panther performing with Stone Sour and Cherry Bombs at the Sands Bethlehem Event Center in 2017 here and watch an in-depth interview with Freddie Fabbri in Episode 130 of the NEPA Scene Podcast:
