If you’d told us five years ago that Steel fucking Panther would one day be headlining Wembley Arena, we’d have spat our Jack Daniel’s out in surprise and laughed all the way home.
Earlier this month, however, not only did metal’s favourite jokers headline the iconic London venue, but totally smashed it. Legendary photographer and Metal Hammer regular Ross Halfin was there to capture the madness.
“Two years ago, I would have never have thought that Steel Panther could have packed out Wembley,” he notes. “But the 80s aren’t only back in Panther world… they never went away! Michael Starr’s whole stage persona is based on David Lee Roth from the Van Halen 1984 tour – a tour I photographed – and it was quite odd, as if Dave had beamed down to Wembley doing all the moves and the Spandex.
“I finished the show doing my traditional crowd photo with a huge, enthusiastic crowd loving every minute of them. As DLR himself would say, ‘Wembley was the rock’n’roll capital of the world, man!’ Well, it certainly was for two hours on that Saturday night.”/o:p
