UPDATE: Gigreview: Babymetal live in Köln 03.07.2014 (English translation inside!)

First of all: This was one of the best concerts, which we have experienced in the last years. Similiar experiences like this BABYMETAL concert on 07.03.2014, we had with the concert of One OK Rock at Brückenforum in 2014 (Bonn,Germany) or the concert of Maximum the Hormone in the Essigfarbrik 2011 (Cologne,Germany).

The temprature was high, the crowd was pumped – the best conditions for the first German gig of metal sensation Babymetal! Not only German fans were there – even from the countrys surrounding Germany numerous fans came to Cologne to celebrate together.

The venue of choice was this time the Live Music Hall in Cologne. This time again, the hall was a good decision, the security staff was friendly and handled the Entrance with no complications. Within short time all the visitors who lined up, to the left and right of the entrance were let in to the courtyard of the venue, where they could buy drinks or place their belongings in the cloakroom. Before the concert, there was still plenty of time to buy merchandise, which was quite expensive when compared to other gigs in the scene, but considering the first and only appearance in Germany it seemed appropriate.

Exactly at the estimated start of the concert at 20:00 it began. With a punctuality which is unparalleled and was probably promoted by the German Youth Protection Act, SU-METAL, YUI-METAL and MOA-METAL entered the stage along with their KAMI Band – but the first view on them was still denied.

An Intro like the flying text from Star Wars was played and projected onto the screen in front of the Stage. The Story told by a female voice stated that Babymetal were the guardinas of metal, sent to the galaxy from the FOX GOD „Kitsune„. After the female voice has completely read the text, the still invisible KAMI band started the first guitar riffs of the Song BABYMETAL DEATH. The stroboscope accompanied the band and put the silhouettes of the three girls on front of the screen. At this point the atmosphere was already boiling. When the curtain finally fell to the ground, the crowd at the Live Music Hall welcomed the girls and the Kami Band with the typical BABYMETAL „fox greeting“. The First Song with which they presented themselves also led to a small, first mosh pit – the fans clearly had no time to lose.

The second song was then already one of the most popular songs of the current debut album and made to our amazement that even the scene-foreign countless metalheads spawned Japanese words. „li ne“ resounded from all throats at all corners.

Typical of the band were the three girls on Stage. True to the newly invented genre „Kawaii Metal“ Suzuka Nakamoto (SuMetal, singing and dancing), Moa Kikuchi (MoaMetal, scream and dance) and Yui Mizuno (YuiMetal. Scream and dance) adorned their dance with sugar-sweet moves and the probably cutest smile in the music industry.

The Kami band which are touring around the globe with them had a lot to offer, and this was also showed. The girls left the stage after a few played songs, leaving the Gods in white alone on the stage with time for them to shine. The band played an instrumental in which each member had time to show what he can pull off. The first one was the Bassist BOH(BINECKS). This was a fireword of a bass solo, he showed tapping und conventional high class finger playing. The man moves on the fretboard of his 6-string so quickly and precisely that you have no chance other than being amazed. Although very few of the crowd know who this bald-headed bass god in white was, he was celebrated by the fans what him obviously pleased. Also the guitar was well occupied that night. So suprisingly enough, LEDA(ex-Deluhi, Undivide) played the lead guitar that night. His solo also convinced with outstanding plays.

The program of the band was from begin to end fully adorned with powerful beats. Although it was relatively clear which songs are played, as BabyMetal so far only released one album, but that is not a negativ criticism of this awesome concert. Before the band came on Stage for encore, music was palyed (in lower quality) from the tape and thus you could tell immediately when the gods played again and took over. BABYMETAL concluded this brilliant show with their smash hit „Ijime, dame, zettai“, which again really stimulated the crowd. With thunderous applause on their side they left the stage and left a grinning concert society.

Setlist:

1. BABYMETAL DEATH
2. Ii ne!
3. Uki Uki ★ Midnight
4. Kami Band Instrumental Performance
5. Akumu no Rondo
6. Onedari Dai Sakusen
7. Catch Me If You Can
8. Benitsuki -Akatsuki-
9. 4 no Uta
10. Megitsune
11. Doki Doki ☆ Morning
12. Give Me Choco!!

Encore

13. Headbanger!!
14. Ijime, Dame, Zettai

Thank you Patrick for the translation!