Rockhal, Esch sur Alzette, Luxembourg7th December 2023
Babymetal - World Tour 2023 - Support: Wargasm UK
It was 2014 when three young Japanese girls shook up the Metal community. After five years, their fan base has grown enormously as they have toured with artists such as KORN, METALLICA and JUDAS PRIEST. But for one reason or another, many Metal fans prefer to avoid or keep their distance from the BABYMETAL phenomenon, because in their eyes it’s not “real Metal”. But that leaves the girls of BABYMETAL cold. They conquered Japan in no time and now Europe is on their list!
Although BABYMETAL already opened for SABATON in Luxembourg in April this year, it was announced before this concert that the girls would be back in December. This was the case on Thursday night and unlike last time, the people were there just for BABYMETAL and not for any other band.
Wargasm UK
WARGASM are a British Electronic Rock duo from London. Formed in 2018 by musician Sam Matlock and model Milkie Way, they have released 11 solo singles including ‘Spit’ which has gained five million streams on Spotify, and over 400 thousand views on YouTube. Alternative Press listed them as a defining part of the 2020s wave of Nu Metal, and NME listed them as one of 2021’s essential emerging artists. The pair also took home “Best UK Breakthrough” at The Heavy Music Awards in 2021 and have received widespread acclaim from Kerrang! and Revolver. Their debut EP, ‘Explicit: The Mixxxtape’, was released on 9 September 2022.
Music & Performance
WARGASM kicked things off with their ‘Angry Songs For Sad People’. Their blend of Nu-Metal and Electro-Punk had already charmed ENTER SHIKARI, who recorded the song ‘The Void Stares Back’ with WARGASM and gave them a support slot on their 2022 tour. LIMP BIZKIT front man Fred Durst also seems to have taken a liking to the English duo, lending his voice for a feature on the song ‘Bang Ya Head’. It was also on the ten song set list. WARGASM dashed and rushed across the stage in a hyperactive manner, hitting the nerve of the party-hungry crowd. The set ended with the song ‘Spit’ before the Brits left the stage to Tina Turner’s ‘The Best’ and cleared the stage for BABYMETAL.
Setlist
01. Venom
02. Rage All Over
03. Minigun
04. Fukstar
05. Modern Love
06. Bang Ya Head
07. Feral
08. D.R.I.L.D.O
09. Do It So Good
10. Spit.
Rating
Music: 7
Performance: 8
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 7.5 / 10
Babymetal
BABYMETAL is a Japanese Kawaii Metal band consisting of Suzuka Nakamoto as “Su-metal”, Moa Kikuchi as “Moametal” and Momoko Okazaki as “Momometal”. The band was formed in 2010 with the concept of creating a fusion of the Heavy Metal and Japanese idol genres. BABYMETAL have released four studio albums since their inception: the first, ‘Babymetal’, came out in February 2014. Their second album ‘Metal Resistance’ was released worldwide in April 2016. The group released their third album ‘Metal Galaxy’ in October 2019. Their fourth album, ‘The Other One’, was released in March 2023.
Music & Performance
9.15 pm, time for Kawaii Metal. BABYMETAL were guests in Luxembourg in April, supporting SABATON, and got a rather mixed reaction. This time the crowd was there for Suzuka Nakamoto (Su-Metal), Moa Kikuchi (Moametal) and Momoko Okazaki (Momometal) and you could tell from the beginning. With a short intro film BABYMETAL brought their audience into the “Metalverse” to start with ‘BABYMETAL DEATH’. This was immediately followed by ‘Gimme Chocolate!!’ and the audience could no longer be held back. The three protagonists jumped back and forth on stage, making the audience head-bang and dance even more. The choreography was incredibly impressive and perfectly synchronised. The energy level rose again with ‘PA PA YA!!’ and the audience sang along loudly (and probably mispronounced some of the Japanese lyrics).
Su-Metal, who did most of the singing, had even prepared some words in French for her few short interludes (“Salut! Ca vaaaaaaa?”) - very likeable. In general, the audience did everything Su-Metal asked of them that night. Be it a sea of mobile phone lights during the song ‘Time Wave’ or that everyone should get down on their knees during ‘METALI!!’ and dance along afterwards. The Kami Band, BABYMETAL’s backing band, were convincing with their expertise, even if they stayed a bit more in the background. But for the song ‘METALI!!’ every instrumentalist was highlighted once and could show his skills. But then it was back to business as usual. ‘Megitsune’ was played and the fans were unstoppable. Everywhere you could see fox hands and fists in the air.
During ‘Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!’ the band lived up to the song’s title and hair was flying through the air. Unfortunately time went by much too fast and BABYMETAL finished with ‘Road of Resistance’. It was a shame that the show was over after just over an hour. But nobody in the room could say that they had not had fun. And so the fans left the Rockhal a little early, but still happy. Arigatō BABYMETAL, see you next time!
Setlist
01. BABYMETAL DEATH
02. Gimme Chocolate!!
03. PA PA YA!!
04. Distortion
05. BxMxC
06. Mirror Mirror
07. Time Wave
08. Monochrome
09. METALI!!
10. Megitsune
11. Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!
12. Road of Resistance
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 9
Light: 9
Total: 9 / 10
All Pictures by Elena Arens
Comments powered by CComment