Review: Dan Maynard
It was barely a year ago that Japanese Kawaii Metal trio Babymetal were in Australia last. Since then, they’ve released a brand new album Metal Forth and toured the world endlessly, and tonight, it’s Australia’s turn for the Metal Forth world tour. After a week of questionable wet weather, tonight we have perfect clear skies at Brisbane’s Riverstage for Babymetal‘s first open air headline show in Australia.
The last few times Babymetal visited Australia, the lines have wrapped around venues, with fans eagerly lining up well and truly early to get a good spot. Today was no exception, with a line that extended well down to the Brisbane Botanic Gardens, not to mention the incredibly long line for the outside merch tent. Babymetal fans mean business.
Tonight’s opening act is Floridian metal act Magnolia Park. The band race onto the stage with energy ready to destroy. The sun is still out, the line is still making its way through the gates, but the pit is filling up quickly and the infamous Riverstage incline is beginning to pack in. It’s no secret that at shows these days, sometimes the crowd just simply doesn’t show up instantly. And in a lot of cases, even an energetic and commanding opening act will struggle to get the crowd into the zone.
Magnolia Park are anything but that. It begins with guitarist Tristan Torres telling the crowd to move to the front with absolute power, with no care other than to see the crowd up and moving, and he keeps at it. By the third song, the band have the crowd running circle pits and the old wall of death.
For a band that has only toured here once, on the smaller stage at Good Things festival, they have done the unlikely and gotten the crowd pumped and moving more than most opening acts can. It’s incredibly impressive. After a half hour set, Magnolia Park have proven themselves to be worthy of such an opening slot and have clearly taken on some fresh fans given the reception they receive.
Bloodywood, the New Delhi based metal act, have been a huge talking point for this tour. After years of touring the world yet never making it to our shores, Bloodywood have finally reached Australia and the wait has most definitely been worth it, for us and for them. The moment the music fades away and the lights change, the fans all across the Riverstage grounds go into a frenzy. It almost feels like just as many people are here to see Bloodywood as are for Babymetal.
The applause is borderline deafening and it makes you feel so privileged to be at this momentous occasion. As the band hit the stage playing Gadaar, the opening track to their 2022 album Rakshak, it’s full throttle from there.
It might not be the longest set, with seven songs filling the setlist including Dana Dan, Nu Delhi and Halla Bol, you can truly feel the band putting their uttermost into the show. We are even graced with the presence of our main act Babymetal surprising the crowd in full Babymetal gear, playing one of their collaboration tracks Bekhauf.
Before they bring the set to a close with Machi Bhasad, vocalist Jayant takes a moment to introduce the band one by one and thank the fans and crew who made it all possible. I’ve witnessed many many bands over my years play their first shows in Australia, but Bloodywood have sunk into a small handful of bands I’ve seen walk away from their first Australian tour with such praise from the crowd. The only band I’ve probably seen make the same mark is Electric Callboy, who will headline this very stage in less than a year. So I truly believe it won’t be long before we see Bloodywood here again, playing to their own crowd and a much bigger production. As I said, this was worth the wait.
The time has finally arrived, the music comes to a halt, the lights dim, and the screen at the back of the stage begins to play the introduction to Babymetal‘s show. As the narrator tells the story of Babymetal‘s origins leading up to this moment, it ends with the question, “Are you ready to headbang?” and we are off to the races. The band slam straight into Babymetal Death, introducing the three girls to the stage as they dance their iconic routine to the fan favourite song. With no time to waste, it’s straight into the opening track from their latest album Metal Forth, with the track From Me to You. As the band dance and sing on stage, Poppy plays across the screen larger than life, singing her vocals like a goddess over the band.
It’s a massive set, consisting largely of the latest album, with Song 3, Metal and RATATA being slotted in there as well. And of course, with Bloodywood just backstage, it only seemed appropriate to return the favour and have the band return to the stage to sing their other collaboration with the girls Kon Kon. A collab of epic proportions, it definitely sits as one of the highlights of the night.
There’s so much to take in at a Babymetal concert that it is honestly hard to put it all into words. The effort and love that these girls put into these shows along with their band and crew are something else. The dance routines, the energy, the lighting and sound, and the utter tightness of the backing band, it is something completely out of this world that sometimes words can hardly explain.
After some of their biggest hits, Gimme Chocolate and Doki Doki Morning included, we reach the encore of the night, beginning with Headbangeeeeerrrrr. The girls leave the stage before one final song, returning with massive Babymetal flags each in hand, waving them proudly to the crowd. They end the night with Road to Resistance from their 2015 album Metal Resistance. And even more unexpectedly, as they officially kick into the final song of the night, an insanely bright blue-green shooting star streaks over the open air stage, brighter than any I’ve seen in my 40 years on the planet, almost as if it was staged. (It wasn’t, can confirm much of Brisbane witnessed the same phenomenon.)
The night ends as the girls say their thanks to the crowd, as they wrap up their 2026 Australian tour and a video outro plays to the fans. An incredible night that is beyond words.
– GALLERY –
