Raleigh straddled a prowling Steel Panther for a ride into of sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, where rules are few and the adventurous feel no shame.
The Twenty Twenty $ex Tour penetrated The Ritz’s front doors. A few hours later, when the smoke cleared and everyone left to return home, Raleigh felt a little less innocent than it did the day before. Roughly 600 Steel Panther fans came to party, and party they did.
To warm up the stage for the evening, Cody Parks & The Dirty South opened the show to a full audience. Many in the audience were fans of the band and were equally, if not more, excited for their set than for the evening’s headliner. Opening hard and strong with “Dirt I’m From” from their 2022 release Country Metal Compilation, Cody and the band blasted into their signature heavy metal riffs mixed with country lyrics and Cody’s unmistakable Nashville, TN, singing voice. Equal parts metal and country, some in the audience sang along while others headbanged along with the band. The short setlist included “Thunder Cash 69,” “Water in the Well,” and closed with audience favorite, “Redneck Rich” which raised the voices of the entire venue as they sang along word-for-word.
Learned mid-set, about half the audience were experiencing Steel Panther for the first time. Most appeared to know what to expect; however, some, including a fan named Adrienne, who was volunteered by her boyfriend to join the band on stage and play the role of “Girl from Oklahoma,” were not prepared for the unbridled debauchery about to take place. Dressed in their standard over-the-top, mega-magnified version of 1980s hair metal costumes, the members of Steel Panther bound onto the stage and launched into “Eyes of a Panther,” one of the tamest songs in the setlist. Flanked on both sides of the stage by extremely athletic, scantily dressed pole dancers, the simple stage setup of a drum riser in the back and a few smaller risers at the front edge of the stage left plenty of room for dancing, choreographed skits, and soon many women from the audience who wanted to party up close with the band.Fans sang along with every song throughout the set. However crude the lyrics became, no one showed a moment of hesitation or embarrassment as they sang about sex, drugs, and glory holes. The setlist included “Just Like Tiger Woods,” Asian Hooker,” and “Friends with Benefits,” before guitarist Satchel played a blazing, riff-filled solo straight out of the 1980s. “Poontang Boomerang” preceded “Girl from Oklahoma,” which led into the stage filling with at least 17 women for the fan favorite, “17 Girls in a Row.”
Throughout the show, the band entertained themselves by tossing fedoras and similar hats amongst each other, challenging themselves to catch them in unique and daring ways. There were always at least three different things happening on the stage at any given time, making the entire performance feel super-high energy yet casual and routine for the band. The action never stopped until the last note of “Glory Hole” reverberated out of the venue, the dancers dismounted their poles, and every last guitar pick and drum stick were tossed into the audience.
The Twenty Twenty $ex Tour continues through until April 28, ending in Foxboro, MA, before heading overseas for a European tour running through late July.
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