Budokan - Red Night - Legend Giant Corset Festival

It's the first album release show and we're playing two nights at legendary venue, Nippon Budokan!
Budokan means "Martial Arts Hall" -- it was originally built for the first Olympic judo event in the sixties. It's used for a lot of different martial arts competetion, which is why these shows and the run up lore etc to them have a lot of references to metal martial arts, and how the festivals BABYMETAL have been performing at have been training for this final decisive battle.
But it's not just a sports arena -- a lot of incredibly famous artists have performed here, and a lot have recorded live albums here. Makes sense -- the venue is laid out in a way that is good for filming. The Beatles were the first group to play here, Abba held their last live performance here, and most relevant to my interests, the other Japanese girl group I'm obssessed with, Atarashii Gakko, also had a career defining performance filmed there earlier this year (2024).
Back to BABYMETAL! They played to around 10,000 people each night and were the youngest female artists to headline Budokan at the time (I think that record has since been broken, but I'm not looking it up -- I read the wikipedia entry for the venue and that is as much research as you are getting. We're here to listen to my opinions, not "learn things" or "do research".)
This is the first show where they only use the Kami band, rather than a backing track. They do this pretty much exclusively from now on -- I think there have been a couple of TV performances where they've had to mime playing their instruments due to faults in the sound equipment, but otherwise it's live instruments from now on. I think these two shows, Red and Black Night, are really where they go from being an idol group with a metal sound to a metal group with idol roots. They're taking this seriously!
But this first night comes with some mixed emotions, as both Yui and Moa are injured near the end of this show. Yui falls off the stage during Headbanger, and Moa twists her ankle during IDZ.

Thoughts During:

• This is a big stadium, this is a lot of people
• Hey, it's our first Koba intro! Kobametal is BABYMETAL's producer, and the one who originally came up with the metal/idol concept. He's also dressed in a full body skeleton costume, as he pretty much always is in public appearences. He's here to let us know what to expect -- no encore, Kami band throughout, and they'll be performing every song from the album!
• I'm worried about Yui -- this was the point in the gig where I remembered what happens to her
• I love the way they use the round stage to have the Iine lasers coming from all around
• Speaking of Iine, that's a lot of people who know the movement
• We have our first full Kami solo!
• I see why Takayoshi, my beloved, started braiding his hair back -- he is trying his best to pull faces at the crowd, but keeps having to fling his hair back out of his face
• I really love Su up on the middle platform while Moa and Yui are on the outside ring, which is turning -- it's particularly good for the run/chase parts of the CMIYC choreography
• I do get very nervous when they're all on the platform though -- there is not a lot of room for them to be dancing like that

• Mischief of the Metal Gods!!! This is a Kami band exclusive track, only ever played at live shows. I really like the Kami solos -- it gives the girls a break and really highlights what talented performers the Kamis are
• I also love that they're always hyping each other up -- you can see in the gif below -- BOH is killing it on his six-string bass and Takayoshi, my beloved, is cheering him on to the crowd

• Rondo of Nightmare debut!!! I love this song so much
• Su is so high up though

• You can also see in that gif some of the staging I was talking about, with the Kamis spinning and Su so so so high up, plus, you can see Takayoshi, my beloved, doing his classic hairflip to reveal he's pulling a face
• There's a couple of points in Onedari Daikusen where you can hear the vocals drop out because one or both of them was out of breath, and it always really emphasises to me how goddamn impressive these performances these literal children are doing are
• The thing about the pro-shots is that they are so professionally produced and edited that you can sort of forget that this is a single take where they are singing and dancing live in one take, and hearing them get out of breath really hammers that home

• We've had a new Su solo, now it's time for a new BLACK BABYMETAL (the subunit of just Moa and Yui) song! Yes, you know it, you love it, you've probably seen it on my 404 page; it's 4 no Uta! With lyrics by YUIMETAL and MOAMETAL themselves!!!!
• I think this is a great example of a song that on the album is just fine, but live? Incredible, so much fun; Moa and Yui put on such a great performance
• This song also gives Moa and Yui crowd interaction!! Moa is still bullying the crowd, as is her right
• You know how I was saying how much I love Rondo of Nightmare? Well, every time I think maybe it's my favourite Su solo, Akatsuki starts and I am once again blown away by how talented Su is
• Okay, we're in Headbanger, so we're at the stressful bit
• The accident itself happens during the part of the song where Su is holding up her mic, and Moa and Yui go out onto the walkways that extend from the mainstage to hype up the crowd -- it's one of those that Yui falls off. Obviously they cut around it in editing, but if you listen closely, you can hear her scream when it happens just before her mic cuts out, which is...haunting is the only word I can think of
• Su is looking around for Yui when only Moa comes back -- she won't have been able to see what happened (I don't think either of them could) and you can see she's clearly really worried
• Moa's also compensating for being the only dancer, by moving closer to the centre
• The song finishes, and the whole crowd start chanting Yui's name, which I found quite sweet
• We're closing with IDZ and when that spotlight comes on Yui, she gets such a big cheer, it always makes me a little emotional
• Su and Yui share a nod and some very big smiles, which makes me more emotional
• But disaster again, because now Moa is hurt! She falls right at the beginning of the run and injures her leg in a way that is clearly very painful; she's close to tears at some points in this last song, but by god she does not let that stop her
• Moa is so incredibly brave here, she's still got a big smile on her face a lot of the time
• Holy shit, she's still doing those massive jumps and high kicks
• After the song ends, Moa reaches out for Yui and they hold hands on their way down the stairs to do the "we are BABYMETAL!" It's so cute, and shows how much they cared for each other

Thoughts After

Mixed feelings. The big thing here is obviously the injuries -- I think for Black Night, there are some railings in place, which thank fuck, but it does make you worry a bit about how seriously the adults around them were taking the safety of these children. As far as I know, nothing like this has ever happened again, but I think this incident was preventable and I know it left Moa with some trauma surrounding the venue -- she talks about it when they return here for their tenth anniversary shows. All three of them were so incredibly professional, but they shouldn't have needed to be.
Even though Su was the only one to escape injury, I still feel really bad for her here. She took her role as the oldest very seriously, and talked about feeling responsible for looking out for the younger Moa and Yui. You can see that in her reaction to Yui's disappearance in Headbanger, and in the way she keeps her eyes on Moa during IDZ.
Now for the good bits -- I really loved their use of the round stage, particularly the designs on the stage itself.
The lighting design, something I had no interest in or understanding of until I started watch BABYMETAL live shows, is also really good here.

Number of times I've now said X

• She's/They're so talented! x13
• That fucking baseline x2
• Takayoshi my beloved x1
• Fire near the children! x3
• Why do they make announcements like this? x3

Setlist:

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

Kami Band lineup:

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