I had an absolutely perfect day here in Manchester, UK, yesterday. Arrived around 10 in the morning and had the whole day to enjoy the sunshine and the many happenings, markets and fairs down in the city center.

There was music everywhere, everything from karaoke (a little girl was singing, I remember her having a wonderful voice – hopefully a future star!) acrobats, dancers, street art and walking soda cups. Anything you could imagine. There was BBQ’ing and it smelled so good, food from everywhere, cajun, indian, traditional… And home made cupcakes. Too bad I’m on a low carb diet, or I would have tried a few of those, they looked delicious.

My feet and my back were killing me after the hours of walking, I just went back to the hotel for 10 minutes to get some rest, then walked off to O2, Apollo. There was already a line, 3,5 hours before doors even opened.

What I don’t like about O2 though, is that so called “priority guests”-line. People who BUY their way in, they get in before everybody else and can choose their spots. So all the other people who have been standing there all day freezing their asses off, getting tired just as much as anyone else, gets to stare at somebody’s back instead.

I ended up behind two teenage girls who were giggling and talking the WHOLE time, except for when they were updating their Facebook-statuses of course, or texting…

Anyway, the hours spent out there in the cold were still worth it. At least as soon as the opening act Falling Red got off the stage. The difference between Steel Panther and bands like Falling Red is that at least Steel Panther is doing it as a JOKE, as a parody of what the glam and sleaze era was all about.

Falling Red IS the kind of band that they are joking about. When they started shouting about who in the audience was a sex addict or a drug/alcohol addict, as if it was something cool to scream a “yes” to that bullshit, I just thought “please get off the fucking stage you beehived Motley Crue wannabe losers”…

If they meant it as a joke as well, it just wasn’t made the right way, come on, it’s not the 80’s anymore.

But if I erase those 30 minutes of the show out of my head (believe me, it won’t take long) and move on to the Steel Panther show… 

Steel Panther is – hands down – the BEST live band there is, anywhere, right now. They take ALL the elements that makes a great show, mix them all together and put a label on it that says STEEL PANTHER. Absolutely fucking AMAZING.

You get great music, played by extremely talented musicians (a fact that tends to be overlooked because of the parody label) you get four guys who are working their asses off on stage with their poses and their moves, oh, and they’re hot too. 

There’s the 80’s outfits, the smoke, lasers, confetti…! It’s like Christmas and New Year’s all on one. And on top of all that, the icing on the cake – the jokes. You get to laugh too. There is no better entertainment package anywhere right now. They are doing this so right, and they’re leading their crowd into a mass psychosis pretty much.. :))

Chicks go to their shows, PLANNING to show their tits. One of them had painted something on her boobs last night, and tried everything to get noticed by the “titty cam” – and was the happiest girl in the world when she got up on stage and could lift up her home-made shirt “look everyone, I’ve got boobies!”. Well it’s just bizarre sometimes to watch the whole spectacle. 

The only downside is that when you’ve seen Steel Panther a few times, some of the jokes tend to get a bit…old. :) That’s just because you’ve heard them before so it’s more like “yeah yeah, Michael is 65 years old and had a hip replacement and takes Viagra – gotcha”.

Other than that – I love this band. I will definitely travel again to see them, because it’s the one band where you simply can’t go wrong – you’re guaranteed to have a great time!

Thanks – again – Steel Panther!

[Photos here: www.facebook.com/intherearviewmirror]

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