Babymetal – Gig Review & Photo Gallery 8th June @ Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane QLD

Posted on June 11, 2023 by Cait Mac

Babymetal
Fortitude Music Hall, Brisbane QLD
June 8, 2023
Support: Reliqa

From the moment I heard the premise of BABYMETAL, I was super into it. Three Japanese girls with heavy metal backing, fusing the Japanese Idol genre and heavy music. I was immediately captured by the costumes, choreography, singing about chocolate and, for want of a better phrase (but perhaps it’s the perfect phrase)- the kawaii-ness of it all. Seeing them at Good Things in 2018 was an incredible way to start the day, and I will never forget my partner heading into the circle pit with a drink in his hand, only to immediately have it knocked to the ground. I absolutely had to get along to their Brisbane show on Thursday night, their first ever headline show in Australia.

Understandably, the show was sold out, and I’ve been to sold-out shows at Forty, but the line was unlike anything I’ve witnessed there before. The line snaked down the Brunswick Street Mall, right around the corner, and into the street parallel to Brunswick. Inside was the same – it was slow getting into the stage area on the left side, and the merch line went from the foyer to back beside the stage – making getting a drink from the bar even harder than usual.

The good thing about this is that the crowd was HUGE as openers Reliqa took to the stage. I say it every time I talk about this band, but I have been their fan since BIGSOUND 2019, when they were just babies. Every time I see them play, I am filled with pride, and this was no exception. They were tight and polished, each member playing well beyond their years and owning the stage. Monique Pym never fails to blow me away with her soaring vocals, and the way the band commanded the crowd shows they are ready to take on bigger and bigger stages. This was a huge crowd they deserved, and they looked entirely comfortable in front of it.

When it was time for the headliners to take the stage, we were treated to a fun intro starting with “A long time ago, in a heavy metal galaxy far far away”, which this Star Wars nerd thoroughly enjoyed. If you know anything about BABYMETAL, you know you’re in for an entertaining show and from the intro to the very last song – we were entertained.

The set was an even mix of songs from BABYMETAL, METAL GALAXY and THE OTHER ONE, as well as ‘Road of Resistance’ from 2016’s METAL RESISTANCE as the finisher of the main set. ‘Road of Resistance’ had a fun intro that spoke about the state of the world, the Fox God saying in a dream that walls of death and heavy metal are the way to heal the world and a call to action to end bullying forever. The triple banger of ‘Distortion’, ‘PA PA YA!!’ and ‘Gimme Chocolate!!’ one after another before ‘Road of Resistance’ brought the already frenzied crowd to a peak and was my favourite part of the set.

I will admit that I haven’t kept up with BABYMETAL’s most recent releases, but I was still super keen to catch this show. It was a visual and musical spectacle, as could be expected, with incredible graphics and lighting. The Kami Band were rad as usual in their Fox God masks – laying down the fantastic instrumentals. The girls – Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal who was announced as a permanent member earlier this year, were energetic the entire time and watching them interact with the crowd was amazing.

This set made me wish I was an energetic girl in my early to mid-twenties doing fun choreography while singing in a metal band and touring the world. But then I remembered that I am old and tired, and I was in awe of the energy that never wavered from the band. The fashion and range of humans in the audience were also really cool – there were goths like me, lots of kawaii style that wouldn’t be out of place in Tokyo, and people you could tell were definitely anime fans. It was also awesome that it was an all-ages show, so there were literal children there! Towards the end of the set, I saw a dad leading a child who honestly looked about ten or eleven out from the middle of the standing crowd. I will forever love seeing young people enjoying live music, especially metal.

In short, fun times were had – as was expected.

Setlist

BABYMETAL DEATH
Megitsune
Iine!
Shanti Shanti Shanti
MAYA
Mirror Mirror
BxMxC
Monochrome
Distortion
PA PA YA!!
Gimme Chocolate!!
Road of Resistance