BABYMETAL revisit a spectacular homecoming.
Kawaii metal sensations revisit a pivotal homecoming
THE MOMENT BABYMETAL
went from a Fox God-worshipping, idol-pop guilty pleasure, to a fullblown phenomenon is difficult to pinpoint. Was it when the kawaii metallers broke the internet with the video for Gimme Chocolate!! (which, by the way, has now notched up a staggering 15 million views)? When they crossed boundaries by supporting Lady Gaga on tour in 2014? Or what about when they started floating over huge crowds in a giant pyramid?
All viable candidates for sure, but arguably the turning point came when the pint-sized then-trio of Su-metal, Yuimetal and Moametal released their breakout second album, Metal Resistance. Immediately afterwards, they headed off on a world tour that started at the legendary Wembley Arena and finished with a double finale – two sold-out nights at the Tokyo Dome, the famed stomping ground of Metallica and Guns N’ Roses. Dubbed Red Night and Black Night, it’s these shows Babymetal have decided to stream on their Youtube channel, encouraging fans to “Stay home, Stay Metal” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even now, these are still the band’s biggest headline dates so far, and feature the ‘classic’ Babymetal line-up – less than two years later, Kami band guitarist Mikio Fujioka died after a fall and Yuimetal left the group, citing health issues. But their significance extends way beyond the numbers. Watching a combined audience of 110,000 giddy fans gobble up every morsel of pop-metal mash like a mob who’d just found the E-number stash, it’s clear this was no longer a gimmick. Babymetal had cemented themselves as real stars with irresistible pull and power.
The band’s shows are always gloriously OTT, but their home country of Japan is where they splash the most cash and the scale of this production is ludicrous. There’s a huge tower, topped with a platform and dazzling LED screens. Below it, three tombstone-shaped runways extend out into the crowd from a spinning stage. Red Night begins with Su, Yui and Moa clad in gold and black glittering tutus, rising from the top of the tower for a demented Road To Resistance, while fire shoots into the air on the reeling red stage below. A video at the start of both nights explains there will be no encore and no cameras or phones are allowed. As the camera pans across the huge audience, there is not a single device in the air. Just a seething mass of fans gleefully lost in the moment, throwing the Fox God horns, grinning their faces off and copying every bit of razor-sharp choreography with a fervour bordering on religious.
During line!, the stage begins to turn, twirling the girls around the room, although they never miss a beat and never once seem remotely fazed by the size of the crowd. Next, Syncopation’s dubstep breakdown is followed by a brutal breakdown and an EDM cyber rave, and during Amore, Su is left on her own to do Kaiju battle with surging speed metal. Poised and professional, she doesn’t even seem worn out, with only the slightest perspiration sticking her fringe to her forehead. There’s also a clear effort to elevate Yui and Moa beyond mere backing dancer status. While Su takes a breather offstage, on GJ and Song 4, the duo tumble excitedly across the stage, sweeping the crowd up with their enthusiasm, and they are clearly stars in their own right.
There’s a different setlist for each night, with every track from the band’s first two albums getting an airing. And although Red Night has the better setlist – a double-whammy of Gimme Chocolate!! into Karate is especially incendiary, but Black Night goes bigger on spectacle with the girls making their entrances at the end of the tombstone-shaped runways, suspended on huge crosses as though crucified and wearing their first-era red tutus. The fox masks come out for Megitsune and on Headbangeeeeerrrrr !!!!! , Sui grabs a bejewelled mic while her comrades navigate the catwalks between huge fountains of smoke and steam. Bearing in mind these shows take place on consecutive nights, each an hour and half of solid dancing, by rights the girls should be knackered, but being human Duracell bunnies, their energy never flags.
When both evening come to a close, the ‘crystal’ – OK, plastic – neck braces given out on entry, which we are told will “protect the crowd’s necks from the approaching harsh battle”, come to life, transforming the Dome into a dancing, neon skyline of 55,000 lights. Musically, Red Night offers the most emotionally resonant climax with an epic rendition of The One, Babymetal’s tribute to their diehard fanbase. And as the girls, shrouded in heavy golden capes, glide down the runways on moving platforms, the magnitude of the occasion seems to dawn on them. Four years on, these shows are still the most bonkers anywhere on the planet – this is Babymetal at the very height of their delirious powers.