My son and I saw Babymetal last year and while we loved the show, the venue (Wind Creek in Bethlehem) was overcrowded. So when they announced this show at the Mann, and I scored decent seats, I was excited for us to see them again.
Then my son couldn’t go. So I asked my wife to go and she was pretty excited to see them.
We had stayed in our ADA seats for this set the actual seats were pretty uncomfortable and despite being further away in the ADA seats, the view was still much better).
Like last time, they opened with Babymetal Death. First comes the masked Kami band (their masks are cool and the band is incredible). Then the trio came out: Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal.
Everyone there knew the words (in English and Japanese) and what to do and when to do it–Total crowd synchronicity.
They followedwith Megitsun (that’s 2 songs from the debut to open the show). This one has a great synth line that translates well live.
Throughout the songs the trio danced like crazy. Their precision synchronization was impressive–I like the hop dance on Megitsune. (more…)
I was really bummed that Jinjer was opening half of these shows and that our show was so close to the Jinjer dates.
I had seen Black Veil Brides open for Ice Nine Kills and my first thought when I saw them was:
“these guys have gotta be from L.A.” Why? Because the drummer was swinging his head around and spinning and throwing sticks and the guitarists were really flashy, doing solos up front and standing back to back while they soloed together. None of it was especially crazy, but it just screamed L.A. metal band to me. And indeed, I found out after that they are from Holly wood. Turns out the rhythm guitarist is named Jinxx!
I enjoyed their set well enough then and it was fine for this show. We had moved to the ADA section, which meant comfy chairs, so we sat through their set. Couldn’t see them all that well, but they didn’t do anything visual, so it was no big deal. I had mentioned my L.A. comment to my wife and she agreed.
Many people at the show were REALLY into BVB. The person in front of us in particular was crazy for them.
Their set was entirely fine. I was chickling about he lead singer who sounds like a TV presenter when he talks but who started every single song with a guttural scream. This of course made all of the songs blend together to me.
There was nothing that we didn’t like about their set, but we both agreed afterwards that there was simply nothing memorable about it. It turned out, though, that we liked the final two songs the most.
Those songs were from 2011 and 2013, so I’m guessing I like their older stuff better.
2025
2022
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (Johann Sebastian Bach song)
(Intro theme, transitions into “Knives and Pens”)
The Phantom Tomorrow [tape intro]
Knives and Pens ⊗
Faithless ∇
Bleeders ♦
Coffin ®
Faithless ∇
Crimson Skies ¶
Coffin ®
Shadows Die ϖ
Devil ♠
Wake Up √
Perfect Weapon
Scarlet Cross ¶
The Legacy §
Knives and Pens ⊗
In the End ϖ
The Legacy §
Fallen Angels §
In the End ϖ
♦ Bleeders EP (2024) ♠ The Mourning EP (2022) ¶ The Phantom Tomorrow (2021) √ Vale (2018) ∇ Black Veil Brides (2014) ϖ Wretched and Divine (2013) ® Rebels EP (2011) § Set the World on Fire (2011) ⊗ We Stitch These Wounds (2010)
I hadn’t heard of Bloodywood before this tour, but when I looked them up, I was totally intrigued.
They are a folk metal band from New Delhi, which I found interesting enough. And their backstory is fascinating.
Prior to forming the band, Karan Katiyar regularly uploaded parody metal covers of popular Bollywood songs on YouTube. In 2016, Katiyar quit his job as a corporate lawyer and together with Jayant Bhadula formed a two-piece band with the intention of “destroying pop songs”.
Live, the band is a six-piece. Katiyar plays guitars and flute! Bhadula sings and growls. Raoul Kerr officially joined in 2019 and does rap vocals. The touring band since 2019 includes Vishesh Singh on drums, Roshan Roy on bass and Sarthak Pahwa plays the dhol (an Indian drum that sounds amazing).
The band was loud as anything and they got the crowd going in a second. They even had the crowd form a circle pit which is very impressive as an opening act and in such a small pit area. (more…)
But it’s hard to be cross when Babymetal takes the stage. First comes the masked Kami band (their masks are cool and the band is incredible). Then the trio came out Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal.
I didn’t realize that it had been 5 years since I last saw them. I feel like the previous show was bigger and/or more impressive. But again, that could just be because of my poor view.
But I was pleased when I saw my son taking videos of songs because that meant he was into it.
They opened with the first song off their first album–basically an introduction to the band. Which is totally unnecessary. Not only di d this show sell out, but everyone there knew the words (in Japanese) and what to do and when to do it. Total crowd synchronicity. And Su-metal (as a person next to me said) has total crowd control. She waves her hands and everyone does what she says.
They had a big screen behind them which flashed various images during the different songs. I loved hearing Pa Pa Ya (Babymetals are mostly in Japanese, so I don’t know if the stupidly catchy choruses are nonsensical or Japanese, but damn if pa pa pa pa pa ya isn’t the catchiest thing to shout.
I will repeat some things I wrote last time
Throughout the songs the trio danced like crazy. Their precision synchronization was amazing. (more…)
I had this great plan to arrive early to this show. And then everything went South.
My son’s college had an event that I hoped he could attend, so we wound up leaving later than I intended. And, somehow, when I bought the tickets, I didn’t realize that going to Bethlehem would be so far out of the way from his school (Philly is more or less on the way, but jeez, this drive was ridiculous.
We also didn’t have dinner, so we had a (yummy) stop in the Bethlehem Waffle House. But when we got to the Wind Creek Event Center, it was a nightmare. The traffic to get in was insane–they were directing everyone around the whole campus to the parking garage that you could enter on the way in.
I went looking for a handicapped spot and they were all full, so we had to park about as far away from the entrance as you can get. So we trudged through the cold rain to the doors only to find a massive security line and one of the most thorough checks I’ve been in a show in a long time.
When we got in the venue people were spread out all the way to the back of the room making it almost impossible to get in.
I was really annoyed by this time. So it didn’t give me a great introduction to Scene Queen. (more…)
I first heard of BABYMETAL back in 2014 when they were a massive WTF in the music scene.
Here was a band that played heavy heavy music but the singers were teenage Japanese girls who were totally kawaii and who sang in a distinctly pop style. The 17-year-old metal purist in me would have been infuriated by this abomination to metal.
But my adult self things this is an amazing amalgam of style and one that is designed to shake people out of their comfortable bubbles. Even if you balk at the singing style (and the dancing), the music is really really heavy. Like, impressively heavy.
But the juxtaposition doesn’t end there. Between the heavy music comes occasional moments of synthy pop goodness. It made my brain explode the first time I watched the video for “Gimme Chocolate.” By the time I watched it a second time I was hooked and was determined to see them live.
Back in 2016, I somehow missed that they were playing the Electric Factory. I was seeing Mastodon there two nights before their show but when I asked if there were any tickets left, they had sold out ages ago. Boo! [Looking at that setlist I see they played seven different songs last time!]
So, three and a half years later they finally came back into town and I bought a ticket right away. Actually, I was supposed to be away for the weekend so I bought a ticket for Sunday in New York City. This would have been so much work because I would have just come back from a camping trip, I would have had to drive into NYC to a place I’ve never been and it was a Sunday night. So I was glad the trip was cancelled and I could go on Friday night after all!
I arrived and ran past the merch hoping to get a decent spot, but it was pretty packed. I managed to get behind some short people and all was well for the opening band. Then, when Avatar left, somehow 200 people pushed their way in front of all of us who felt like we were packed in pretty tight already. I didn’t step back at all but somehow twice as many people were in front of me. Woah. (more…)
I have grown to really dislike the Fillmore (which is not how I felt almost exactly three years ago). The sound is always excellent and it’s a nice big stage, but I feel the venue is too big and, more often than not the crowd is really unpleasant. I’m sure this is because I’m a priss, but I don’t need rude people around more interested in the bar than the music, me pushing for no reason (a mosh pit is a good reason to push, but not much else is), and talking through a show. It’s especially irritating with quieter bands. Fortunately, Avatar is not quiet.
I had not heard of Avatar when it was announced that they’d be opening for Babymetal. I didn’t really know who would pair up with Babymetal’s brand of JPopMetal. Rather than going for another Japanese metal band (of which there are dozens of great ones to choose) they went with a more theatrical outfit. And if Babymetal’s stage show weren’t as spectacular as it was, Avatar would have blown them away.
Avatar is a metal band from Sweden. They formed in 2001. They started out as a “melodic death metal” band. I’ve never quite understood this phrase, but Wikipedia tells me
The genre combines aspects of traditional heavy metal [like] fast riffing and harmonic guitar lines, with the heavily distorted guitars, fast double-bass drum patterns and occasional blast beats of death metal. The vocal style typically combines harsh screaming and growling with melodic singing.
On their first two albums, singer Johannes Eckerström emphasized the growling vocal style. They became more melodic (with some growling and some singing) and then for their fourth album, Black Waltz, Eckerström added a “Clown” persona.
Since then, the Avatar show has become a, quite frankly, amazing spectacle. (more…)
After the last time I saw Built to Spill (which was amazing), I felt like I didn’t really need to see them again. The show was excellent and I was right in front of Doug–an amazing vantage point.
Then he announced he was touring the Keep It Like a Secret album. This is the album that introduced me to the band 20 years earlier and it has some of my favorite songs on it. So yes, of course I was going to go see that. It turned out that the Philly show was on a night I was busy (but I did get a ticket just in case–turns out my plans changed but then Babymetal announced a show for that night so I sold my BtS ticket for and went to Babymetal instead). But this show at Starland Ballroom was going to happen the night before my plans anyway, so I grabbed a ticket for this show.
I have mixed feeling about Starland. If you get there late–and it’s a popular show–forget about it. When we saw Death Cab for Cutie, we were lucky to get in the door. So for BtS I left really early and got there really early and was about the 17th person in the building. So I had my pick of where to stand.
Last time I saw BtS, I was right in front of Doug Marstch, like right on the stage. It was incredible watching him from so close. And yet, due to acoustics, I could barely hear him at all. So I told myself that this time I would stand back and enjoy the whole experience. But things got the best of me. First off, there was a gate, so I wasn’t going to be right up against the stage. But more importantly as I stood back in a sweet spot, I watch all these tall people push past me and I couldn’t help myself, I had to grab a railing spot. So once again I was right in front of Doug and his massive amplifier. I could hear the vocals a little bit better than last time, but again, it wasn’t the same as hearing the full band. And, honestly I could barely hear the second guitarist. So, I have really learned my lesson for next time. But again, it was so cool seeing him work his magic up close that I’m willing to overlook some things.
Is it a kid’s song? I have no idea. But it is mesmerizing. I have now watched it about a half a dozen times and somehow it gets better each time. Not as awesome as Babymetal (who are Japanese), but awesome in a wholly different (Chinese) way.
So far it only has 8 million views, the number must be increased!
[READ: November 15, 2014] The Best of McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
Although I have been a fan of McSweeney’s from the very beginning, I have never faithfully read their online Internet Tendency. Of course I have read the often circulated ones, and a few years ago I said I would read the old posts from the beginning (I didn’t). Now I discover that in the years since I said that, the Internet Tendency has 283 pages of archives (with something like 30 entries per page). Get moving on that.
Having these best pieces in a book form is nice, as is anything with “It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers” printed on the cover. Since I haven’t read all 8,000 entries, I can’t say what qualifies as the best. Although I have to wonder if some of these were picked more for their contributors than their actually bestness. (Take a look at some of the heavy hitters represented below). Regardless of how these were chosen, it is an excellent collection of funny stuff.
When I finish reading all of the online pieces (in about two years), I will have more authority to say if these 50 are the best, but in the meantime, I’m just going to enjoy this very funny selection. (more…)
I had to throw another BABYMETAL song up here, but what else to choose? The options are astounding–the live version of “Gimme Chocolate!” where you can see them actually sing (and dance) along to the headbanging band?. Or “ド・キ・ド・キ☆モーニング – Doki Doki☆Morning” which shows the band actually playing (although they are covered head to toe in skeleton costumes and has a chorus like Buddy Holly’s “Everyday”. Or even “Death” which opens with some super heavy metal chords and chanting has the cute little girls singing about death. But I chose this song whose name I don’t even understand-even the English part.
It has fast heavy guitars but the song is primarily taken over by staccato vocals and melodies. It has one of the girls processed into death metal vocal.
And then comes the chorus which is nothing but pure J-pop–frenetic and treacly. And then, at 1:35 (yes this has all been in about 90 seconds) the three girls start rapping. Yes. Then at 2 minutes the whole thing reverts into the heaviest of death metal growls and a wild and catchy guitar solo. By 2:45 the song has turned into a super fast rave up with pogoing. And your brain just turns to mush as you want to dance along. Surrender to the power of BABYMETAL, before they graduate from junior high.
[READ: March 5, 2014] Stick Dog Wants a Hot Dog
The second Stick Dog book follows the same basic format as the first one. And I have to admit that while I laughed, I found it a little bit samey. I hope the third book can keep the freshness factor).
It lacks the amusing narrator introduction that the first one had (there is some, but it’s much more brief). And, surprisingly, the book is 40 pages longer. This time Stick Dog and his friends are after some hot dogs. The book is lengthened because each time there are possible ideas for the dogs to have, Watson really runs with them (it was a highlight in book one). This pads out the book quite a lot and even the narrator makes a (quite funny) joke about delayed gratification.
But indeed, there were some very funny sequences and scenarios. And of course the mocking of the drawings is very funny (the pancake or UFO picture is very good).
This time, instead of getting hamburgers from a family, the dogs are after hot dogs from Peter, the man with the cart that says Peter’s Frankfurters. (There’ a very funny sequence in which the narrator explains that the dogs, or at least Stick Dog, can read and how they can do so). How are these hungry dogs going to get the hot dogs from Peter? (more…)
My son and I saw Babymetal last year and while we loved the show, the venue (Wind Creek in Bethlehem) was overcrowded. So when they announced this show at the Mann, and I scored decent seats, I was excited for us to see them again.
I Just Read About That... 