BABYMETAL played in Mexico City, Mexico on May 9 as part of the BABYMETAL World Tour 2015. Wookie Williams of the Entertainment site EL HYP3 attendend to the show and wrote a very interesting and fun review about the 20 things he thought of as he was watching BABYMETAL live. Read the review translated below.
20 things about the BABYMETAL show in Mexico at Circo Volador
The first time I listened to Babymetal was at a Maid Cafe, you know, with girls with crinolines and bows and socks above their knees always smiling with their loud voices. When
the same three girls showed up on TV singing a tune more suited for 30 year old Norwegian men with depression, I immediately said: "huh?". And yes, I thought it was a gag, one of those crazy,
jokes, from the crazy Japanese who have TV shows where a girl gives a blowjob to a guy while he sings karaoke.
But Babymetal is much, much more than a gag. So on Saturday, May 9th, I went to Circo Volador in Mexico city to see Su-Metal, YuiMetal and MoaMetal’s first show in our country. And these are some of the things that went through my mind.
- 01. - I had no idea Babymetal was so popular in Mexico. Agreed, Jpop and Kpop fandoms have grown a lot in the last few years, but I couldn't imagine a band like Babymetal filling up Circo Volador. And they almost did.
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02. -There were many, many kids. It is the
ideal way in which parents can take their children to a metal concert so later they can take them, when the age is right, to watch Children of Bodom or something like that.
- 03. - "I need to find more about Babymetal, because I know close to nothing" *Enters Wikipedia* It turns out Babymetal is a combination of Metal and Idol, which are these bands of boy or girls, really young, which are created specifically so everyone loves them for being incredibly adorable. Suzuka Nakamoto is the leader and she is quite, quite adorable. She is 17 years old and when she graduated from junior high school, she also had to leave the group she was in, Sakura Gakuin, because only girls from junior high school can be in the group. So Babymetal was formed and Su is the Top leader. Yui and Moa are 15 years old and they rock harder than, I don't know, Korn.
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04. - Few times have I seen so much
energy at a concert. Maybe when Lady Gaga came and played in a stadium, people went crazier, but here the mood was pretty rowdy.
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05. - The genre Babymetal plays is called "Kawaii Metal" or cute metal. Awww.
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06. - The show is marvelous. They
have a bunch of geek nonsense like “A long time ago in a heavy metal galaxy far, far away…” (though I quite doubt they have ever seen Star Wars), images of Ozzy, Eddie, James
Hetfield, the idea that metal transcends generations, languages, continent...it's all very convincing and people love it. I love it.
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07. - Obviously, I thought: "when
is the anime going to begin?", because each song is like the intro of an anime show. I thought of Attack on Titan. And Castlevania.
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08. - Yes, it is cute they write the
names of their songs witch little stars, and they are super cute. But the music is quite heavy.
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09. - The backing band, called The
Kami, look like they were pulled out straight from a japanese terror movie. Ju-on, but cute. Awww.
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10. - In front of me there was a six
year old girl and a boy who was maybe 8, and they were doing the songs choreographies.. The girl got tired after like 5 songs, but the boy did it through the whole concert. Those kids will
grow up wanting to listen to good music, wanting to go to more concerts, wanting to have fun. Kudos to their parents.
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11. - I have never seen KISS live,
but after watching Babymetal, I
don't think I need to.
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12. - At Dilemma's, the show
organizers page, there were several comments by "true rockers" which were outraged because, oh the horror, they only want "true" metal that sings about death and Satan and destruction and diarrhea.
- 13. - It intrigues me very much to find out what Babymetal songs are about. Some are pretty self-evident, like Head Bangya!!, which is about head banging, as their video illustrates, in which Su is possessed by a neck collar which makes her headbang uncontrollably. But Doki Doki Morning? I assume their songs are kind of like typical young girls pop, like any teen band, current or past. And yes, that is pretty much it:
Straight. Straight. My bangs end makes a straight line.
It’s a cutie style.
After all, a really straight line shall get the first prize.
It’s super-awesome.
Today’s lip-gloss shall be that? This? That? Which?
Which? Wait! Watch! What time is it now?
Gathering. Gathering. Gathering after school.
It’s a party time.
Don’t you know the girls-only gathering and the girl talk?
It’s super-exciting.
Today’s VIP will be over there? Here? There? Where?
Which? Wait! Watch! What time is it now?
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14. - Babymetal is
as if My Chemical Romance had a daughter with Sailor Moon, but she is not really his, but her lover's: SATAN
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15. - I thought a lot about one
time I went to one of those secret Korean karaokes downtown. There is a metal one, and another one where, every afternoon, young girls fans of kpop gather together and throw parties and sing
all of the songs of their favorite groups like Sungkyu, Ftisland, BTS and another thousand Korean boy bands I don't know about. But these are 13, 14, 15 year old girls who are learning Korean
so they can understand what they sing, just in case one day they meet one of their idols and they have a chance to declare their love for them. The fact that a group can do that seems to me
the coolest thing in the world.
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16. - Having said that, I love
how a bunch of people knew at least the songs' choruses. How many of those young kids and otakus are trying to learn japanese because they are fans? How many of them will want to learn more
about japanese culture?
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17. - Babymetal's concert is one of
the most entertaining events I've been to in all my life. They seem to me much more original than any band doing Metal these days and that are still trying to play to have the most unreadable
logo on their t-shirts. At the beginning people were giving away bills which I never knew when to throw :(
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18. - According to Loud Wire, among
the best albums of 2014 there are bands like Septicflesh, Every Time I Die, Allegaeon and others. I would award Babymetal as best album of the decade. But I'm not really a serious
guy.
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19. - My favorite freaks are the
japanese. Easily.
- 20. - Tell me if you don't think this isn't the most adorable thing in the universe: ULTRA-MEGA AWWWW. I love you, Babymetal.
Review by: Wookie Williams on EL HYP3
Translation by: Daniel Fuentes.
