By Andrew Bansal
August 17th 2015, The Whisky-A-Go-Go, West Hollywood CA: Despite the unfortunate fact that hard rock/heavy metal musicians and fans alike are commonly perceived as social outcasts, this faction of humanity often leads the way when it comes to making a real difference through actions rather than words. Last Monday August 17 2015 at the Whisky-A-Go-Go in West Hollywood, an ensemble of great musicians gathered to raise money for the benefit of a Leukemia-stricken child named Charlotte in Canada. Led by Sunset Strip legends turned global dominators Steel Panther and retaining Whisky Monday night summer residency punk ‘n rollers Barb Wire Dolls on the bill, the event titled ‘A Day For Charlotte’ also included appearances by special guests and promised an enjoyable time for attendees that paid good money to be entertained for a good cause.
Doors opened at 7, and merely five minutes later, Barb Wire Dolls hit the stage for a 25-minute set to begin proceedings. It was extremely strange seeing them as an opening act on a stage they have ruled for the majority of 2015, but it was heartening to note that they weren’t booted off their own residency show because of the late addition of this event on the Whisky calendar. With that said, it was blasphemous to slot them so ridiculously early in the evening, as even some of the high-profile guest musicians pointed out the same in conversation later on. Barb Wire Dolls practiced what they preach in their lyrical content and succeeded in rising to the challenge, unanimously impressing the few first-timers that turned up early. Testament to the impact and progress they have made as the resident champions of the Sunset Strip is the fact that many of their fans came to see them, paying upwards of $35 despite seeing the same band play headline shows for free every week, although some ended up missing the set as they did not imagine the band going on five minutes after doors opened. All in all, Barb Wire Dolls stood tall and held their own at an event featuring higher-profile musicians.
Next up, Richie Kotzen graced the stage with his three-piece band and played a short set of pristine blues rock tunes. He has always excelled on the six-stringed instrument but has clearly developed and matured by leaps and bounds as a singer over the years. He brought on bass meastro Billy Sheehan, his band mate in The Winery Dogs, to end the set with an expectedly spectacular jam. Just like Barb Wire Dolls, Richie Kotzen’s act seemed to be slotted much too early in the event and deserved a larger audience.
Phil X, guitarist in Bon Jovi and the man primarily responsible for organizing this event, was MCing between acts, and after Kotzen’s trio departed the stage, Phil X brought on his band The Drills and started playing a set which would also include the all-star jams as guest musicians would join one by one. This is where the event began to lose grip, as several minutes were wasted between each song, changing the gear setup and bringing on different musicians. It came across as poorly prepared and unorganized, and while Phil X did a mighty fine job playing the guitar and was more than decent on vocals, he could not hold the audience’s attention with his MCing attempts to fill the long periods of awkward silences. Because of the MCing, there was no house music whatsoever until right before Steel Panther’s set, and the crowd would have much rather preferred that in all the breaks as opposed to these uninteresting monologues. Besides, regardless of who the MC is, it is pointless at hard rock/heavy metal events to have an MC, and organizers should invest in good DJs instead.
But focusing on the positives, whenever the musicians briefly took the stage, they thrilled the crowd with some stellar performances. One of the unsung heroes in rock ‘n roll, Matt Starr, put in a tremendous version of AC/DC’s ‘Whole Lotta Rosie’ on lead vocals, while the age-defying singing exploits of Dug Pinnick were on full display when he performed Steve Wonder’s ‘Superstition’ with Billy Sheehan shredding on bass. Sheehan and Phil X were joined by Brian Tichy on drums for a cover of Talas’ ‘Shy Boy’ which has become the signature Billy Sheehan tune in these all-star jams, but the surprise of the lot was the scintillating vocal delivery on David Bowie’s ‘Suffragette City’ by Bulletboys frontman Marq Torien. His rendition was strong enough to instantly turn non-Bulletboys fans in the crowd into Marq Torien fans. The jam session also included Scotti Hill from Skid Row, and the effortlessly incredible Rudy Sarzo.
As great as these musicians are at their craft, which they clearly showed, the lengthy breaks largely ruined the impact of their performances and tired the crowd as the event stretched unnecessarily longer than it should have. After the jam was finally over with, a raffle was held on stage and took an eternity. Granted that the show was for a great cause, and this isn’t by any means an insult to the efforts of those involved. It is merely constructive criticism, because it is definitely possible to organize things in a far more efficient manner, and in this writer’s humble opinion, bands are the way to go, not jams. But all said and done, this crowd waited for the arrival of Steel Panther more eagerly than perhaps any Los Angeles area crowd ever has.
At 10:30, Steel Panther hit the stage amidst deafening roars as the crowd could finally wake up and have a genuine reason to get excited. Panther played a seven-song, hour-long set, and knowing that most of their local fans were at the House Of Blues show two weeks ago, they presented an almost completely different set of tunes. ‘B.V.S.’ from the latest album ‘All You Can Eat’ was one of the highlights and made one wonder why it isn’t played more often, while the Bon Jovi cover was the most enjoyable item of the set as the entire crowd sang along to it. The haters can say whatever they want, but early Bon Jovi is definitely as metal as anything that’s categorized as metal.
Music aside, the stand-up comedy was the dominant portion of this Steel Panther show, but none in the audience could have had any complaints about that because this was one of their funniest Los Angeles shows, and considering the number of shows they have played in the area, that’s a statement-and-a-half. It was probably a result of the band enjoying themselves playing a smaller stage on the Strip, for a change, in a more intimate setting where they could interact more directly with members of the audience, very much reminiscent of the Key Club days. But ironically, despite the Whisky stage being much more easily accessible than that of the House Of Blues, only one woman got up there to show her tits.
The world of heavy music does not have a band more entertaining than Steel Panther. They come across as jokesters but are true geniuses inside, and this was them at their most uncensored best. Their set along with that of the Richie Kotzen trio and Barb Wire Dolls would have together been deemed more than sufficiently worthy of the admission price.
Overall, this was an event that raised an appreciable amount of money for a valid cause, and albeit in segments, served to the enjoyment of those in attendance.
Set List:
01. Party Like Tomorrow Is The End Of The World
02. B.V.S.
03. You Give Love A Bad Name (Bon Jovi cover)
04. Just Like Tiger Woods
05. Community Property
06. Party All Day
07. Death To All But Metal