REVIEW OF BABYMETAL AT SUMMER SONIC 2014 TOKYO August 16, 2014 Their latest show is always their best show. Thats what I felt this time. Does it mean previous shows were “worse” than the latest ? No. The thing is simply that they are constantly growing day by day. This is the third time for me to see BABYMETAL live. June 23rd @ O-EAST Right before the Euro tour. They seemed to be in tense, but at the same time, seemed to be really excited with their first tour in Europe. The show was awesome with full of energy. July 21st @ O-EAST After their Euro tour. They must have learned something in Paris, Cologne, Knebworth, and London. The show was awesome. August 16th @ Summer Sonic After their North America tour. They got something in LA, and from the opening act for Lady Gaga. Experience at Heavy Montreal gave them something special. The show was just awesome. As such, BABYMETAL show me something awesome as always without exception. Every time they perform, they must be able to learn and absorb something from the experience and grow, and that is why their latest show is always their best show. Summer Sonic 2014 Tokyo was held in the Makuhari area. It takes 30 minutes from the Tokyo station by train. We arrived at Kaihin Makuhari station at around 12:30 p.m., which was roughly 2 hours before their show. On the way to Makuhari Messe, we immediately noticed that there were a bunch of Babymetallers who wore BM T-shirts. In order for us to take a good position in the hall, we went straight to Mountain stage. When I stepped in the hall, it did not take a second to recognize that it was too late. Front area was fully occupied by BM T-shirts and supposedly non-BM fans. However, we could take a center position which is approximately 15 meters away from the stage. Well, that’s fine with me … After 1 p.m., Japanese band appeared on stage. These guys with twin vocals were cool, and played tight and heavy rock’n roll. I loved their sound. According to Twitter, the band that played before these guys at around noon made fun of the fans of BABYMETAL. The lead singer also mentioned something negative about another Japanese band. Perhaps because they were unhappy that not all the audiences were their fans ? Well, as I was not there and did not hear directly, I mean, I got to know it only by some hot discussions at Twitter, I may not be qualified to comment anything on that, but IF that was a true story, I think it is really sad that there was a band that could not welcome and/or cheer up other bands at same festival. Back to the band with twin vocals that started after 1 p.m. They noticed Babymetallers in the crowd, and said, “Well, this is a rock festival, and we know that not all of you guys are our fans. But, hey, we’re gonna do our best, so let’s have fun together !” I loved those guys, oh yes, definitely. While they were playing, the crowd was growing minute by minute, and by the time they finished their performance, I could hardly see the back row of the audience. One good thing for me after their show was that I could move forward a little bit by 2 - 3 meters. I learned later on, that the door was closed 15 minutes before the start of BABYMETAL. That means in practice that the space was filled with 20,000 + people … amazing. The facts that their goods sold out quickly, door closed 15 minutes prior to the show, and there were a LOT of guys in BM T-shirts, tell us that BABYMETAL was one of the most popular band at Summer Sonic 2014 in Tokyo. I think it is fair enough for me to “declare” so. The BM show started with “Death” followed by “Gimme Chocolate”. During “Gimme – “, there was huge mosh in my area, and I instantly got involved in the circle. Compared with the crowds at O-East on June 23 and July 21, the crowd at Summer Sonic was obviously the CRAZIEST. I seriously thought I was going to break my arms as the guys there hit each other extremely heavily. Most of the guys were soaked to the skin, and my T-shirt and towel sucked up their sweat. At “IDZ”, I lost my water bottle and towel (not the BM one fortunately) in WoD that was the biggest one I had ever seen. Crazy as hell. But absolutely fun. Most of them including myself were singing along with Su even in the mosh’sh pit. Well, maybe I should say we were shouting the lyrics instead of singing songs. Su, Yui, and Moa were more than perfect as always. As mentioned, I thought that they had learned a lot of things over the past couple of months in overseas. Su was an excellent singer. Well, no. This time, she was not merely a “singer”, but an artist who can express herself in front of big crowd. I guess she enhanced her ability and power of expression, I mean, she was possibly enlightened somehow by other artists at Sonisphere, Heavy Montreal, and of course by Lady Gaga. Same thing with Yui and Moa. Seems they could successfully sharpen their swords in Europe and North America. I do not know how many people were “killed” by the cuteness of a couple of cuties, but it was obvious that not only Babymetallers but also other non-BM-fan guys were killed. I was one of the happy victims in heaven as a matter of course. Both Yui and Moa looked to be in best condition, which relieved me a lot. Kami Band did a great job as REAL professionals, needless to say. They are cool musicians who are now imperative for the world of BABYMETAL. Another thing I noticed was that there were quite a few female audiences in the crowd. Not all of them were BM fans, but majority was the ones, and even non-BM-fan women became BM fans at Summer Sonic, I believe. During the show, it was announced that BABYMETAL would go back to the UK and the US. I was a bit surprised because my hunch was that BM would go to Asia and Oceania in autumn and winter. My guess for one of the reasons why they ended up with the US and the UK again was that the tickets for The Forum and Fonda Theatre were sold out very quickly, which means Amuse Inc. did clearly see strong demand there. Well, having said that, I also understand there are a lot of other reasons that are tangible and intangible. My assumption is that Amuse will organize more comprehensive “world tour” during next year anyway, By the way, if I raise one thing that could have been better at Summer Sonic Tokyo is the size of the hall. Mountain stage was the second largest at Summer Sonic Tokyo, but it was obviously way too small for BABYMETAL. I felt really sorry for the guys who came to the hall but blocked at door due to capacity restriction. Organizer of Summer Sonic should arrange the largest stage, Marine, for BABYMETAL. FYR, below are the allocation of stages and artists at Summer Sonic Tokyo on Aug. 16 & 17 (extract): Robert Plant Arctic Monkeys Richie Sambora Avril Lavigne Queen and Adam Lambert BABYMETAL Megadeth Suicidal Tendencies Avenged Sevenfold Kraftwerk In mid-September, BABYMETAL are going to have shows two days in a row at Makuhari Messe. I personally would like a new song. At least one. Preferably two. One as a new single. The other as a coupling song with the single. I am hoping that it is not premature to expect the new one(s). BABYMETAL did a great job at Summer Sonic 2014 in Tokyo. I am 200% happy with their performance. And, again, I really do feel that their latest show is always their best show.
Posted on: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 11:46:12 +0000
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