Tag Archives: BABYMETAL

REVIEW: Babyklok Tour 2023: An Unforgettable Night of Metal Madness with Dethklok and BABYMETAL in Phoenix (10-10-23)

PHOENIX — On a mild mid-October evening, with the first signs of fall evident throughout town – as seen in the changing colors of license plates, and the exchange of the brutal dry heat for a slightly less intense dry warmth – a crowd assembled at Arizona Financial Theatre in downtown Phoenix. Next to fine examples of how architecture should not look (brutalist architecture is the unsalted saltine cracker of the construction world) sits the theater. The crowd gathered here this evening had braved the traffic and lack of downtown parking to bear witness to a metal show like no other: Dethklok and BABYMETAL teaming up as co-headliners on the “Babyklok” tour, with Jason Richardson opening the show up. Dethklok – a fictional band that is surprisingly very real – was touring in support of their newest album, Dethalbum IV, and the new movie Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar. BABYMETAL was touring in support of the latest album The Other One, released earlier this year. 

Jason Richardson

Jason Richardson took the stage first. Richardson first broke into the music industry at 17, when he took over for Chris Storey in All Shall Perish in 2009. Since then, he has played in Born of Osiris, Chelsea Grin, and currently plays in All That Remains, filling the massive hole left when Oli Herbert mysteriously and tragically passed away in 2018. He has toured as a solo act, and puts on an absolute masterpiece of a solo show. He played for around half an hour, playing a total of 7 songs, including “Tendinitis” and “Ishimura”.

BABYMETAL

BABYMETAL
BABYMETAL
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

The history of BABYMETAL is an interesting look into the culture and entertainment of Japan. Formed in 2010 with then-13-year-old Suzuka Nakamoto (stage name Su-metal) as the lead singer, 11-year-old Moa Kikuchi (stage name Moametal), and 11-year-old Yui Mizuno (stage name Yuimetal), the group was a subunit of a group named Sakura Gakuin. Yuimetal left in 2018 due to an illness, and was replaced in 2023 by one of their back-up dancers, Momoko Okazaki (known as Momometal). The idea was to fuse the Japanese idol genres with heavy metal, with the result being a new type of metal called “kawaii metal”. There is a very strong J-pop sound to the vocals, layered over thunderous, earth-shaking metal music.

BABYMETAL executing precise choreography
BABYMETAL
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

This is combined with choreography that has near military-like precision, with the trio seldom, if ever, being out of sync. The show is equal parts entertaining and organized chaos, and BABYMETAL fans enjoy every second of it.

The chaos began at exactly 8 p.m., with the words “BABYMETAL WORLD TOUR 2023” coming up on the massive screen behind the band. The introduction drew inspiration from Star Wars, with the opening lines being ‘A long time ago in a heavy metal galaxy far, far away,’ followed by a tale of how the FOX GOD chose the heavy metal spirits to make up the band. At the conclusion, the band erupted into a riff that would make Rammstein proud. Even with the band attempting to rearrange the molecules of the audience members with a sustained sonic blast, the cheers from the crowd could still be heard.

BABYMETAL with a bursting, sparkling image on a backing screen
BABYMETAL
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

BABYMETAL has released 4 albums over the years, starting with 2014’s BABYMETAL, 2016 saw the release of Metal Resistance, 2019 brought Metal Galaxy and earlier this year the band released The Other One. They leaned heavily on BABYMETAL, opening the show up with “BABYMETAL DEATH”, and following that up with “Gimme Chocolate!!”.

BABYMETAL dancing while shrouded in blue light
BABYMETAL
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

Su-metal and the band said little beyond greeting the audience and giving instructions that were eagerly followed, such as having the crowd turn their phone lights on, getting low (which, in most cases, simply meant taking a seat before jumping back up), and a couple of other actions. While little was said, it is clear that the band has mastered the art of stage presence and crowd interaction. It should also be noted that unlike many recent metal concerts, there was a circle pit from the jump at this show. Watching the dynamics of said pit when the screen showed an overhead view of the audience was also an interesting study. Watching fully grown men slam into each other at full speed while listening to kawaii metal is not something I thought I would write about.

Dethklok

Dethklok logo on the backing screen at their concert
Dethklok
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

Dethklok answers the question, “What would happen if Weird Al were a metalhead who decided to write NSFW lyrics?” The answer is a bizarre and yet utterly enjoyable hour-long show. The birth of Dethklok came in 2006, when Metalocalypse premiered on Adult swim. The fictional band would soon release a very real album – The Dethalbum – in 2007, which shot to number 21 on the Billboard top 200 list. Lead singer and founder Brendon Small played all the instruments from 2006 until he was joined in 2007 by Gene Hoglan, one of the greatest metal drummers to ever grace the stage.

Dethklock performs at Arizona Financial Theatre
Dethklok
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

While the premise may seem a bit odd to an outsider, don’t be fooled. It is pure, silly, and rather metal fun. The show begins with the band members walking to their positions in backlit darkness. Then, the screen behind them plays scenes from the Metalocalypse TV show, including scenes from the full-length movie Metalocalypse: Army of the Doomstar, which was released on August 22nd of this year, while the real-life band performs. If you are not familiar with the show, it can be summed up as an over the top world where the fictional band accidently murders thousands of people with every show, and is also a massive economic powerhouse, but they can’t buy groceries or cook a meal due to their incompetence.

Dethklok with an animation with gravestones on the screen behind the band
Dethklok
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

None of that previous sentence is made up, and the over the top moments mixed with the over the top songs attracted a die-hard following that happened to have quite a crossover into the BABYMETAL fanbase. This should be no surprise, as both bands produce some face-meltingly amazing metal, with a twist.

Oh, and Facebones, an animated skull featured in concerts and the TV show, serves as a well-intentioned character, often tasked with providing guidance and explanations, but invariably finds himself unable to convey valuable information before things inevitably go completely off the rails. He makes a couple of appearances, reminding the audience about concert etiquette, such as the importance of not indulging in excessive pot smoking, as no one wishes to take on the role of caretaker.

It gets very weird very quickly, but that seems to be par for the course considering one of the song names is “I Ejaculate Fire,” with an incredibly bizarre music video that redefines the idea of how destructive an STD can truly be.

Dethklok appearing as a silhouette with a large fiery screen above them
Dethklok
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

Your aunt is likely to pray for your immortal soul upon discovering your attendance at a Dethklok concert. You might feel a tad confused and uncomfortable, but the music is undeniably absurd in the best possible way, with a real-life band producing some of the finest metal sounds you’ll ever encounter. Just don’t pay too much attention to the lyrics, or you might realize you’ve been headbanging to a coffee jingle. Not that anyone could fault you; “Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle” is undeniably a banger that leaves you uncertain about whether to charge through a wall to get some coffee or flee, especially since the video playing behind the band strongly suggests the brand has mistaken “waking up” for “burning alive in a pool of superheated coffee.”

Dethklok performs in front of a large crowd of fans
Dethklok
| Photography:
Rodrigo Izquierdo © All Rights Reserved

The Babyklok tour ended on October 12 in the Los Angeles area, and while BABYMETAL will continue on with another touring partner in Europe, fans will have to wait for Dethklok to announce their next steps. It is, after all, a concept band that just released a film to conclude the Metalocalypse era and has wrapped up their first tour in 11 years. The fandom can only hope to see another tour or two, but if there are no more, it would be difficult to argue against the idea that they truly exited stage left on a high note.

Photo Gallery

Photographer: Rodrigo Izquierdo

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Dethklok & BABYMETAL – Arizona Financial Theatre 10-10-23

Photography © Reagle Photography
All Rights Reserved

BABYMETAL US Tour Will Wrap in Seattle, Following October 11 Album Release

SEATTLE — Japanese metal band BABYMETAL , with special guests The Hu, will be wrapping up their 20-date US tour 2019 at The Paramount Theatre on October 16 (Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 8:00 pm). Tickets may be purchased through the STG Presents website.

General Admission Flat Floor
| Reserved Seating in Balcony
All Ages / Bar with I.D.

$55.50 advance | $61.00 day of show
(not including fees)

BABYMETAL
| Photo Credit:
Amuse Inc.

New Album METAL GALAXY to Release Oct. 11

Their third album METAL GALAXY was announced in June this year, along with with a new track “PA PA YA!!” featuring Thai rapper F.HERO, and dropped a video for it on July 1 (watch the video below).

 BABYMETAL’s first release of the year was “Elevator Girl” via Cooking Vinyl. The single was the first piece of music since METAL RESISTANCE EPISODE VII,  the episode that sparked a new era of BABYMETAL where the FOX GOD sent the band on a darker path, which manifests in the darker tone of the new material as heard on “Elevator Girl.” 

METAL GALAXY is to be released October 11 via BABYMETAL RECORDS / Cooking Vinyl. The album, aptly titled after a fictional place within the BABYMETAL universe, is about an odyssey the band must take to the METAL GALAXY, a trajectory thrust upon them by the FOX GOD. Each song brings them closer to their desired destination starting with their previously released “Elevator Girl”, “Distortion” and “PA PA YA!!”

CD & Vinyl Pre-orders HERE

Recorded over the weekend at their Yokohama Arena in front of 17,000 people, the video for “PA PA YA!!” features the same incredible production set up the band brought to the US dates this summer.

Photo Credit: Amuse Inc.

In the 3 years since the release of their last album, 2016’s METAL RESISTANCE, the band has achieved an insurmountable amount of success around the world with hundreds of millions of audio streams, and almost a billion YouTube views. They played to 110,000 people over the course of two nights at the massive TOKYO DOME, supported Red Hot Chili Peppers on their UK/US arena tour along with additional support slots with Metallica in South Korean and Guns N’ Roses in Japan. They continued their success in the US as they embarked on a full national US headline tour that started September 4,  culminating in the band’s first headline arena show in North America at The Forum in Los Angeles on October 11. Tickets and VIP packages for remaining dates on-sale here.

BABYMETAL Tour Dates:

w/ support from Avatar

09/04/19 – Orlando, FL – Hard Rock Live
09/06/19 – Atlanta, GA – Coca Cola Roxy
09/08/19 – Washington, DC – The Anthem
09/11/19 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
09/13/19 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore
09/15/19 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
09/18/19 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore Detroit
09/20/19 – Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom
09/21/19 – Saint Paul, MN – Myth Live Event Center
09/23/19 – Kansas City, MO – Uptown Theater
09/24/19 – Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom
09/27/19 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
09/28/19 – Salt Lake City, UT – The Union Event Center
09/30/19 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
10/01/19 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theater
10/04/19 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
10/11/19 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum *
10/13/19 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock **
10/15/19 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater ***
10/16/19 – Seattle, WA – The Paramount Theatre ***

*No Support
**Festival
***No Avatar, Support from The HU

BABYMETAL Online:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
YouTube | Spotify | iTunes

Featured photo (top) courtesy of BABYMETAL