Picture: SOZO|AMUSE INC|Kenneth Lim
How metal are you anyway? Do you make pop music cry tears to make a Drowning Pool and then strap them up to the electric chair, waiting for Killswitch Engage? Think you can handle it if I were to place you in a Metal Safari and have you trek all the way up to the Nile? Or perhaps you were lying on your couch and enjoying this spectacle as it unfolds in your Dream Theater? lml/ \lml
Well enough about you chump! Chances are if you are reading this, then you are here because you totally missed the BABYMETAL concert last Saturday on 28 December 2013 (what were you doing? Late for the show because you were riding the Night Train?), or are here because you want to find out what the AFA Channel‘s team of writers think about the whole show? It was certainly not a Stairway to Heaven, but there sure was plenty of Lights and Sound.
BABYMETAL – LIVE IN SINGAPORE 2013
Now if you are here to watch a live band rock it out with 3 girls prancing their cute choreography at the front, then you will be sorely disappointed. But if you are here to see a performance with heavy metal music and appropriately fitting dance choreography and cute girls, then this is for you.
Also, bear with me for the performance review, it can get quite in depth. I summarised it at the bottom just in case.
Picture: SOZO|AMUSE INC|Kenneth Lim
The dance moves of the girls kind of fit the music and atmosphere for the most part. The back-up dancers at the back – or minions as I liked to call them, were quite convincing. I mean, what’s with the full line up of music instruments? Drums, guitars, amps and all? Certainly for the most part, the back-up dancers were doing their thing, providing the suitable backdrop to the girls’ dancing and singing – a completely mental band of musicians pumping out riffs and blast beats at a metal concert.
Throughout the entire concert there were periods of pause where they had some kind of a transition video, if you would like to call it that. Those were animations that seem to depict a really sad scene where (from the back of my head) idol music was trumping all else and that metal music was only being played by the rebels – being Babymetal themselves. There was even one where they made Su-metal some sort of anti-hero? A “Red Rider“, that’s what they called her.
Picture: SOZO|AMUSE INC|Kenneth Lim
While I would normally find the overuse of animation and videos for a music concert a faux pas (your mileage may vary), the animations put up at the transitions were quite well timed to say the least. And hey, it kinda set the mood for the concert too, kind of like the concert had a story to tell as we watched the entire length of it. Now I found that to be a neat little thing, despite my dislike for animation to be used (I came to watch a concert, not to watch animation. Gimme my music!), because it isn’t everyday that you get to walk into a concert to listen to the band perform, but also have some kind of a theme to it and have kind of a story to tell. Cheesy as it was (I kind of cringed at the part about idol music being dominant and that Metal music was played by the underdogs part), it still kept the flow of things going, and was something new, or rather, something that I have not seen being done very often. I like that, I truly do. Well played girls.
As for the build up of hype throughout the concert? You bet it built up alright. The fans’ enthusiasm makes it harder to pin exactly how hyped up they were, I mean they were practically rushing forward to just a feet or two away from the stage and waving the glow sticks and being generally like what fans are like at the onset of “BABYMETAL DEATH“, their opening act, which they performed after one of their short animation clips. “君とアニメが見たい” (“Kimi to anime ga mitai“) and “いいね！- Iine!” would follow next, with plenty of dancing and strobbing lights and sound to keep the excited fan pumped up, and gives the not so warmed up knuckleheads some time to get comfy in the concert hall and begin to slowly tap and headbang along with the others in the pack. ”いいね！- Iine!” might leave you thinking you walked into some Initial D match, what with that Eurobeat sounding backing, but hey, I ain’ complaining. It did make me feel like raving though!
Picture: SOZO|AMUSE INC|Kenneth Lim
Apart from ”おねだり大作戦” (“Onedari Daisakusen“), I didn’t find the other two songs between the second and third transition video to be anything much. I was told that ”チョコレート- Chocolate” was a new song, but it was okay at best. The same went with “ウ・キ・ウ・キ★ミッドナイト” (“U ki u ki ★ middonaito“). “おねだり” had the quintessential materials that makes a BABYMETAL song a BABYMETAL song – cute voices, a really well done choreography, and that raw gutteral post metal playing behind the girls. I expected to hear that and that song basically delivers that all in one package. The rest in this set of three? Not really. Kinda “meh” to put it bluntly.
As for the atmosphere? Well, it still more or less seems like what it was at the beginning, if not just slightly dying down a little? Really fans? You can do better than that! But I should have kept my criticism that their lack of faith was disturbing because what proceeded to happen was the third transition video, which had a kind of story to build up to a song done by Su-metal – “紅月” (“Akatsuki“).
Everything about it was so right. It built up! Well that’s what I have been waiting for! Brushing aside fake performing skeletons! This is it! And I guess the crowd kind of shared a similar sentiment, perhaps? Because they started to get really high man. This, was the point where things start to ramp up right until the encore. And the songs that follow after that were really rocking it! It’s like they saved all the titan hits for the end! Well I sure did not see that coming, and would totally accept the hammer strike that takes the form of ”Catch Me If You Can“, “ヘドバンギャー！！” (the Headbanger song, a personal favorite of mine :D), and “ド・キ・ド・キ☆モーニング” (“Doki Doki Morning“, which by the way, totally would sound like a good wake up alarm, no pun intended in any way).
Calls for an encore were answered in the form of “メギツネ ” (“Megitsune“) and a final parting song was presented in the form of “イジメ、ダメ、ゼッタイ” (“Ijime, Dame, Zettai“, damn this one sounded like it was really rocking it!). Oh and how can I forget the crowd? Once the encore was called for, the fans basically got to the point where they were at the most excited they can get for the whole concert that day. How can you deny them their fun? As much as it was pleasing to watch the choreography and lights show that was going on at the stage, I couldn’t help but smile at how excitable the crowd was.
Picture: SOZO|AMUSE INC|Kenneth Lim
tl;dr:
Concert was awesome. There were a few transition videos slotted in between after every three or so songs. Those animations were really awesome to watch as they kind of told a story and set a theme. Concert started on kind of a high that got a little muted around the middle but that was fine because it built up after the third transition that led to the last three songs before the encore. The encore was awesome, and ended the concert well. Crowd seems happy, writer is also happy for them.
The Verdict
Sorry to the SRS BZNS (serious business) people who want to watch a live band. You probably won’t find it here. But hey, you should really loosen up and just enjoy the performance! You are watching some revolutionary stuff at work yo! There was even a nod to the venue by the group (yeah… that merlion thing, I am looking at you)!
Personally? You bet I was one of those SRS BZNS chaps. As much as it still leaves me with a sour taste and a feeling that I did not get what I came for, I still managed to get something out of it. And that alone is more than enough. I came out to be entertained and to be impressed.
Was I entertained? Despite for the fact that I did not manage to see a live band at the works doing their stuff, I was still entertained! The dance was good and the music totally blended in with the dance and the idol group’s theme of being metal and still having idol elements in them.
And was I impressed? For proving that the show could still entertain despite not having what I came to see? Hell yeah I was impressed alright!
Picture: BABYMETAL Facebook Page
Did the girls make the place absolutely rocking it? Yep they sure did! Were the audiences enjoying themselves? Seems like it! You guys almost wanted to start a freaking mosh pit! Should you turn up to see a live band? Nope, they were all dancers, who looked really good with the instruments. Would you enjoy yourself? If you are here to see Su-metal, Moametal and Yuimetal dancing along to some idol-sounding metal music, and are going to just ignore your light sticks and totally enjoy the heck out of yourself, then yes, you would.
Here’s hoping they will appear at an AFA Anisong concert in the future!
Find out more about BABYMETAL on their facebook and official website:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BABYMETAL.jp
Official Website: http://www.babymetal.jp/
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