As part of the highly successful Knotfest line-up, Japanese trio BABYMETAL played a very crowded Fortitude Music Hall in Brisbane last night (4 March).
A couple of potential issues stood in the way of me reviewing this band. First, metal is not really a genre I have spent a lot of time listening to. Second: I was drafted in at very short notice to review the band, so didn't have a strong familiarity with their music.My love of Japan and Japanese artists enabled me to overcome any apprehension, and I'm pleased to state up front, the evening was brilliant.
Local band Diamond Construct kicked off the evening, putting on a great set of metalcore. Singer Kynan Groundwater was wearing a lot of bling on his tracksuit, in fitting with the band's name, and leapt uncontrollably around the stage, while growling the lyrics of their music.
Three songs in, the band hit their straps with the highlight 'Neon'; the whole crowd was throbbing with the music, and even Kynan seemed taken aback, muttering "holy sh.t" at the end of the piece, such was the energy level.
Diamond Construct - image © Bill Prendergast
He asked the crowd to show him something he hadn't seen before, and in short order there was a spinning circle of punters in the middle of the floor. He then urged the crowd to keep up the energy right to the end, and that's really what this band delivered.
I was lucky enough to stand beside one of their greatest fans, mother of Kynan and guitarist Braden, who talked in glowing terms of the band's decade together and her own highlight of the evening, 'Hit It Back'.
At 9pm, four imposing masked musicians hit the stage, the backing band for the trio BABYMETAL. The trio itself is almost a dance rather than musical trio, and the choreography was absolutely perfect all evening, as would be expected from art coming out of Japan. Their outfits were almost a cosplay style.
BABYMETAL - image © Bill Prendergast
Perhaps what is amazing is the massive amount of support the band has generated over the past decade or so, given what they do is so different from anyone else. Think playing at Wembley in London, touring with the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and being one of the headline acts at Knotfest.
Their popular support was on clear display last night, with the longest merch line I have ever seen (apparently their Wembley show broke merchandise sales records) reflecting the strong commercial success outside their home country as well as their very strong domestic support.
The band brings a beautiful infusion of the country's traditional culture, and inserts that into a specific musical form which is anything but traditional Japanese. The fact they have lasted for over a decade is a testament to their strong following inside Japan and the global popularity.
BABYMETAL - image © Bill Prendergast
The Japanese following is more along the lines of a traditional idol-style of music, hugely popular on local TV (typically attractive males or females aged somewhere in their early 20s dancing and singing), but there is also strong support for metal – and every other musical niche – inside Japan as well.
The show started with the trio spelling out BABYMETAL with their arms. The crowd was well versed in this, and mirrored the gestures for the song, 'Babymetal Death'. For this first song, all I could hear was the fast-played drums and bass, with the occasional squeal or harmonic note from the guitars. This seems to be consistent with the musical style.
The girls danced in perfect unison for each song, making clear there is a set dance and format for each of the pieces, rather than being overly spontaneous. In the typical Japanese kawaii – cute – manner, the girls were smiling and making love-hearts to the crowd with their hands, and performing generally kawaii dances while waving to their fans.
BABYMETAL - image © Bill Prendergast
This was on display again as the band and crowd sang 'Happy Birthday' to trio member MOMOMETAL, who just turned 22, and whose artistic role in the trio is described as scream and dance. 'BxMxC' followed and was clearly a favourite of the crowd, before the trio briefly left the stage only to return singing the very famous and traditional song, 'Sakura'.
The first time I heard 'Megitsune' (translated as 'vixen') – the day before the concert – I picked out this melody over the top of the heavy backing music. It's an example of where the band combines the old and the very modern, something that pervades so much of Japanese society.
'Monochrome' followed, and in my view this is their most likeable song, before they moved into the wild 'RATATATA', 'PA PA YA!!', and the huge favourite, 'Gimme Chocolate!!'. During 'Gimme', the guitarists were both frantically playing a wall of extremely fast licks, culminating in one of them going up in a cloud of smoke!
After leaving the stage, a chant went up for one more song. The trio were back, introduced by church organ-type music, and leading into 'Head Bangya!'. The song broke into a lovely Japanese traditional style midway through before lurching again into a frenzied metal mayhem to wind up.
BABYMETAL - image © Bill Prendergast
The girls were back off stage, before coming back for one last piece, 'Road Of Resistance', each bearing a flag with the BABYMETAL logo. There was a deafening roar as the piece ended, and the trio displayed one of their own flags, overlaid with that of the Australian flag.
This was a fantastic show, appealing to all ages, and as with some of this idol-style entertainment, was performed in a combination of English and Japanese. I confess the music is not what I typically listen to or even enjoy, but the show was great, and the all-ages crowd was wildly appreciative.
More photos from the concert.
