The historic Buckhead Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia, set the stage for a different kind of midweek rock spectacle on Wednesday night as tongue-in-cheek, raunch-driven rockers Steel Panther rolled through town on their Twenty-Twenty Sex Tour, joined by Cody Parks & The Dirty South. Built in 1930 in a Spanish Baroque style, this 1,800-capacity venue blends old-world elegance with modern concert energy, accentuated by glowing chandeliers hanging above a space that typically features a general admission floor and a seated balcony. This was also a return to the scene of the crime for Steel Panther, as their last jaunt through Atlanta included this venue back in December 2024.
Kicking off the night at 8:00 p.m. with their track “Dirt I’m From” was Nashville-based Cody Parks & The Dirty South. Self-described as “country metal,” these guys came out swinging with thick, overdriven guitars that felt closer to L.A.’s Sunset Strip than a dirt road, but then, surprisingly, Parks cut through with a voice steeped in full Southern attitude. It was that push and pull — twang versus distortion — that gave their entire 6-song set its edge. With songs like “Water In The Well” and “Thunder Cash ’69,” the early audience was treated to an experience that, in one moment, felt like enjoying a honky-tonk anthem, while the next was full-on headbanging fuel. In short, Cody Parks & The Dirty South were country with a heavy metal chip on their shoulder.
Cody Parks & The Dirty South
Alex Walls – Guitars
Aaron McCloud – Bass
Jon Hopkins – Drums
Johnny Palmieri – Guitars
Cody Parks – Lead vocals
Setlist:
1.) Dirt I’m From
2.) Water In The Well
3.) Thunder Cash ’69
4.) The Other Side
5.) Long Haired Country Boy (The Charlie Daniels Band cover)
6.) Redneck Rich
To know Steel Panther is to love Steel Panther, and the band rolled into town on their latest tour like a glam-metal time capsule that had been shaken, sprayed with hairspray, and detonated onstage. From the moment the house lights dropped at 9:00 p.m. to the intro music, the band leaned all the way into their absurdist, neon-soaked identity — equal parts parody and precision.
Opening their set with a blistering run of crowd favorites in “Eyes of a Panther,” “Tomorrow Night,” and “Asian Hooker,” Steel Panther wasted no time establishing that the jokes may be outrageous, but the musicianship was anything but. Satchel’s guitar work was razor-sharp and effortlessly flashy, threading technical solos through a wall of swaggering riffs, while Stix Zadinia kept everything locked in with a punchy, arena-ready backbone.
Frontman Michael Starr commanded the room with a mix of sleaze, satire, and strong vocal control, nailing the high notes while tossing out improvised banter that veered from ridiculous to downright raunchy. The Atlanta crowd didn’t just tolerate it; they fed off it, shouting along to every chorus and punchline like they were in on the joke. What separates Steel Panther from being a one-note novelty is their ability to balance comedy with genuine performance chops; every exaggerated pose or over-the-top lyric lands because the band plays it completely straight musically. If you take in tunes like “Just Like Tiger Woods” and “Party All Day (Fuck All Night),” you will appreciate what I mean.
Steel Panther shows also feature surprises fairly regularly, and Wednesday night was no exception. While Starr had teased that locally based Sevendust drummer Morgan Rose would appear, he sadly did not. Instead, an audience member — whether a fan or a friend — dressed in full 1980s regalia joined Starr on the mic for a satisfying cover of Dokken’s “Into the Fire.” The downside was that this scratched “Community Property” from the setlist. It’s also worth noting that Bam Margera, of MTV’s Jackass fame, was spotted mingling in the crowd.
By the time the band hit their closing stretch of “Gloryhole,” the venue had transformed into a full-on throwback party of half comedy show, half shred clinic. I’ve probably seen Steel Panther live over a dozen times, and while it’s easy to dismiss them as a gimmick, that would miss the point entirely. This is a band that understands the DNA of 1980s glam metal so thoroughly that they can both celebrate and skewer it in the same breath. Live, that duality hits even harder: they are loud and ridiculous, but still execute musically with surgical exactitude.
Steel Panther’s Twenty-Twenty Sex Tour continues for another month before wrapping up their U.S. dates on Friday, May 1st, in Sayreville, New Jersey, at the Starland Ballroom.
Steel Panther
Michael Starr – Lead vocals
Satchel – Guitars
Spyder – Bass
Stix Zadinia – Drums
Setlist:
1.) Eyes of a Panther
2.) Tomorrow Night
3.) Asian Hooker
4.) Just Like Tiger Woods
5.) Friends With Benefits
6.) Death to All But Metal
7.) Poontang Boomerang
8.) All I Wanna Do Is Fuck (Myself Tonight)
9.) Girl From Oklahoma
10.) 17 Girls in a Row
11.) Party All Day (Fuck All Night)
12.) Community Property (scratched for Dokken’s “Into the Fire”)
13.) Gloryhole
Follow Cody Parks & The Dirty South Online
Follow Steel Panther Online
Elliott is a music photographer covering shows in Atlanta, Georgia, and the surrounding area. The highlight of his photography career was back in the early ’90s, when he sold Neil Diamond the rights to his negatives from a show and then purchased a set of tires for his 1979 280ZX during college with the money.