Legend "D"

Happy birthday, Su-Metal! This is the first birthday show, to celebrate Su's 15th birthday. I can only speak for myself, but I did not do anything anywhere near this cool to celebrate my 15th birthday. I think I went to Pizza Hut. I wasn't crucified at all, which I'm now realising was a terrible oversight.

Several firsts -- this has the first costumes very clearly inspired by armour, rather than the more Gothic Lolita/schoolgirl look they'd been using before. I much prefer the armour -- I think it works so well with the music. This is also the first time we have Yui and Moa in costumes that are identical but mirrored with each other, which I also love.

Another first is Su-Metal's first crucifixtion! One of the silliest things they do and I love it every time. It will only get sillier and I will only love it more.

Thoughts During:

• Su's first crucifixion!
• First armour costumes, and mirrored Moa + Yui
• The staging!
• First use of silhoutte to open the show, although with just Su projected big, Yui & Moa their regular size -- makes sense, since it's Su's birthday
• Su is not running in BABYMETAL DEATH
• There is a slight choral sound in BABYMETAL DEATH that I don't think is normally there
• Blown away by how talented Su is during White Love
• Yui in Over The Future! She's having such a great time
• Headbanger -- Night of 15 Mix! This is a dance remix and I really love it. Love the change in choreography, and I love that they bring out backup dancers to make it feel more unique. Generally, I only want the three girls and the Kami Band on stage, but it's nice to bring out more dancers for special occasions, and this is great time for it.
• The lore opening to Onedari Daikusen explains that Black Babymetal came around because Moa and Yui (you know, the 13-year-olds) were literally tempted by actual Satan. This sent me and Friend-Metal into hysterics. I love the stupid lore so much
• Recovered quickly though -- we were distracted by what a great song Onedari Daikusen is
• I love the baseline in the verses of Doki Doki Morning so much I've had to come up with an abbreviation because I say it out loud almost every time the song plays, sometimes multiple times. It's their debut song -- they play it a lot
• Moa is interacting with the audience way more than I remembered her doing this young! She's only thirteen here and she is grinning and making eye contact with people a lot
• Yui's nod to the other two during IDZ is very sweet
• First crowdsurfer spotted!
• Now they are crucifying Su to save Yui and Moa! (because they were literally tempted by Satan)
• Su dedicates Headbanger to the cross, using her mic stand like a sword
• This show ends on a cover, which is unique
• Moa and Yui are both teary, which makes me teary
• And now there's a children's choir -- we're edging close to "school play with a ludicrous budget and a drama teacher who wants to be an auteur" vibes but I like it
• Why do they announce gigs this way
• The lore says "Second Impact, the sequel to First Impact" and I can't tell you why that phrasing is so funny to me, but it is
• ...
• They were literally tempted by Satan

Thoughts After:

Multiple covers! White Love, Over The Future, and Tsubasa Wo Kudasai are all covers. White Love is a song by the girl group Speed, and it was released in 1997, the same year Su was born, which is why it's here. Over The Future is a cover of a Karen Girl's song, which was the group Su was in before she joined Sakura Gakuin (and apocryphally the song Yui and Moa danced to for their Sakura Gakuin audition). Tsubasa Wo Kudasai is I think originally a folk song, but I'm pretty sure it's here because it was covered by Megumi Hayashibara for the film Evangelion: 2.0, so I think that's why it's here. There are a lot of Evangelion references in this gig! I had thought it was because the anime came out in '97, but turns out I was misremembering, so I'm not sure why. Then again, in future gigs we'll have a lot of Star Wars and later MCU references, so the simplest answer is probably just "Koba likes pop-culture references". Anyway, I'm not complaining, it's a beautiful song and Su obviously sings it like an angel.

Yui!!!! It's Su's birthday, but one of the stand out moments for me is Yui's performance in Over The Future. Yui listened to this song over and over when she was younger and a close family member was ill, so it meant a lot to her. As I mentioned, she and Moa even did a dance over of it when they were very young, before they'd even joined Sakura Gakuin. Because Karen Girl's was a three person group, they left Su's spot empty. And now they get to do it again, but onstage in front of hundreds of people and with Su herself there! Yui has described this as a dream come true and you can really see that in her performance. She looks so happy!

Firsts:

• First use of silhouttes
• First armour inspired costumes
• First TFB
• First crucifixion
• First crowdsurfer

Number of times I've said X

• She's so talented! x2
• That fucking baseline x1

Setlist:

• BABYMETAL DEATH
• Kimi to Anime Ga Mitai
• Uki Uki Midnight
• White Love -- Angel of Death ver.
• Over the Future -- Rising Force ver.
• Headbanger -- Night of 15 Mix
• Onedari Daisakusen
• Doki Doki Morning
• Iine!
• Ijime, Dame, Zettai
• Headbangeeeeerrrr!
• Tsubasa wo Kudasai -- Flame Version

Kami Band lineup:

No Kami Band for this!