Budokan - Black Night - Legend DOOMSDAY

It's the second and final night of Budokan! Much less stressful than Red Night, since no one gets hurt and there are way more safety railings. Plus, the costumes are so good.

Thoughts During:

• They have fox coffins! We saw them at the end of Red Night and I love them
• The girls appear at the top of the stairs holding lightabers, which they point down the stairs and the entire stage lights up like they've cast a spell -- it's so fun
• This is one of the best Su costumes -- I particularly love her feathery shoulder piece
• Minna! Hajimaruyo! Kimi to Anime ga Mitai performed with a live band for the first (and almost only) time!! It sounds so good!

• The lore speaks of "the Real Grape Man". I will not be providing further context on the Real Grape Man
• Hey, we have some Babybones for the BLACK BABYMETAL songs! We have Moa and Yui on the central stage, and a dancer on each protruding stage
• Su lore!
• Now Su is back! I missed her
• She's singing two solos in a row, NO RAIN, NO RAINBOW (which is still a (not unpleasant) jumpscare to see so early -- we're still over two years away from the second album being released!), and Akatsuki
• I've been keeping a running tally for the number of times I say something along the lines of "she's so talented" during these gigs, to try and reduce how repetetive these write-ups are, but holy shit at this point I'm pretty sure SU-METAL was the most talented teenager alive

• Hey, it's Kami solo time! They get to come out on to the stage for their solos and everyone looks like they're having the time of their lives
• Su has three solos! I don't think that's ever happened

• Circle pit!!!
• We're doing the "we are!!!"s before the encore

• Such a bold move to put Doki Doki Morning and Headbanger in the encore -- such confidence that people won't be leaving
• Oh hell yeah, it's more lore!
• Another new lore character, it's the Mother of the Fox God!
• I love the lighting of the stage at the beginning of Doki Doki Morning
• And the girls pop up! A reward for patience

• Headbanger!!!!, baybeee!

• Give Moa a fire extinguisher, you cowards
• Gong time, baybee!!!

• Lore time! We learn about the Metal Resistance
• We also get basically a full recap of BABYMETAL lore, which is nice
• The coffins are back!!!!
• And so are the girls! They're wearing incredibly intricate costumes, including headpieces
• The voice over echo on "Japan (Japan Japan Japan)" goes on for long enough that it becomes funny
• They are ascending to heaven/world tour
• Speaking of which
• WE'RE GOING ON WORLD TOUR, BAYBEEEEEEEE
• And Legends Y and M will be in Europe!
• Why do they make announcements like this?

Thoughts After

Fun fact -- this was Friend-Metal's first experience of the bullshit lore and also the actual meaning of the songs (as this show had English subtitles). We'd seen them live, and when I wanted to show them a tutu era gig I went for this one. This was a great idea, because a) it has the lore recap, so Friend-Metal was now familiar with early lore and b) I got to watch them react to the bullshit lore in real time.
I love the lightsabers at the beginning and especially the costumes at the end. I love love love when they do these incredibly elaborate costumes for one-off performances, and these ones are so good. The silver! The headpieces! The masks on Yui and Moa!
We're going on world tour! What an achievement! And Legend Y and Legend M will be held on tour in Europe! Those are the 15'th birthday shows for Yui and Moa, and, excitingly, Su hands over the mic during Headbanger!!! so the birthday girl can sing about the night of her special 15'th. It is insane they didn't record these, or at least they were never released in full, only short clips of Yui and Moa with the mics. (Su's birthday was also on tour, and she MC'd Onedari Daikusen for it. This is the most important piece of lost media to me, as there is no video anywhere, not even pictures, just a low-quality audio fan-recording. I would do dark and terrible things for a good video of this. Dark and terrible things.)

Number of times I've now said X

• She's/They're so talented! x14
• That fucking baseline x2
• Takayoshi my beloved x1
• Fire near the children! x4
• Why do they make announcements like this? x4

Setlist:

• BABYMETAL DEATH
• Iine
• Kimi to Anime Ga Mitai
• Onedari Daisakusen
• 4 no Uta
• NO RAIN, NO RAINBOW
• Akatsuki
• Catch Me If You Can (with Kami solo)
• Uki Uki Midnight
• Gimme Chocolate!!
• Mischiefs of the Metal God
• Rondo of Nightmare
• Megitsune
• Ijime, Dame, Zettai
• Doki Doki Morning
• Headbanger!!!!

Kami Band lineup:

• Takayoshi Ohmura -- Guitar
• Leda Cygnus -- Guitar
• BOH -- Bass
• Aoyama Hideki -- Drums