By Jase Walker
It’s Tuesday, it’s freezing and it’s gonna get colder but tonight in Melkweg it’s about to get kawaii and fucking spicy. J-metal outfit HANABIE are back with a sold out show in Amsterdam following two taster sessions at Jera On Air in 2024 and Dynamo Metalfest in 2025 and I could not be more buzzed to finally get a headline show from these after so long.
For the support tonight is an artist called SUN who is new to my ears and with the live show, my eyes too I guess. Hailing from France and calling themselves “brutal pop”, there’s probably little chance they won’t fit in for this given HANABIE’s style. She’s clearly not gonna let HANABIE’s style upstage her though as she walks out onto the stage draped in an opalescent cowl and dress.
The “brutal pop” tag definitely wasn’t messing around, she starts out sounding almost similar to Arcade Fire before launching into much heavier riffs and screamed vocals. I’m already kinda digging this but with the second song using a really damn catchy tapped riff and groovy rhythm, this has gone from having my curiosity to very much having my attention.
I mean I’m a massive sucker for anything that mixes heaviness with pop sensibilities and SUN has very much captured me already and we’re barely partway into her set, this is proper earworm territory and I’m glad to be here for getting this first-hand. I’m genuinely having one of those moments where I’m loudly going “what the fuck?”‘ every other minute in utter awe of how much I’m getting blown away by an artist new to me at every passing moment.
Another slap in the face moment is realizing she’s playing a metal cover of ‘Survivor’ by Destiny’s Child AND a drum solo? Absolutely top marks for this, it sounds absolutely incredible too! It’s actually finally clicked to me what some of her riffs remind me of because she does a lot of snappy hammer on/off work and it’s Avatar! Specifically ‘Let It Burn’, really similar bouncy riffs and I cannot get enough of that stuff.
Almost immediately after I typed that she ends up ripping out some mad guitar work that is on the same riffy level as Devin Townsend, I am so unbelievably into this music that I’m already looking forward to blasting it on repeat for the next few weeks. This has really caught me off guard in the best way and I’ve immediately sent off tracks from SUN to multiple people and Discord channels because this is absolutely in my interests right now, what a start.
The room’s darkness is pierced by a few people in the crowd with light wands which seem to be a more common thing for Japanese shows recently, the crowd immediately roars as HANABIE runs onto the stage. It’s time for the madness to begin!
Literally the moment they kick off the pit doesn’t even open up, it just erupts in the middle and carves a cavity out of the middle of the room! Sorry but tonight I’ve taken the old man’s position on the balcony for my own comfort but at least I get a pretty awesome view of the madness in the middle too! All of them down the front definitely know the material well though as they spread out for the breakdowns in ‘Warning!!!’ but I can see some dotted around the middle that definitely seem like they weren’t quite prepared for a metal show to say the least.
I’m so glad that I can finally see these inside a venue at a headline show rather than open air barely playing 35 minutes! It’s already everything I wanted from this, the madness of the music, the energy of the crowd, the (much more) incredible sound!
Someone down the front hands over what appears to be a drawing to Yukina who looks touched by it before carefully setting it down to tell a story about her connection to the Dutch and the Netherlands. Next up is ‘Spicy Queen’ and just like clockwork, the people here with light batons all switch to various shades of red and orange because.. well, spicy colours! I’ve mentioned it quite a few times before but Japanese bands really have something unique about how much energy they put into their shows to the point of it being absurd and at the same time it shows just how much fun they have on stage too, they genuinely love what they do.
The start of ‘Girls Talk’ gets the centre spinning and chanting ‘Hey! Hey!’ unbelievably loud and spinning around super fast. They then follow it up with getting the crowd to crouch and jump back up and the entire venue, front to back, is jumping around chanting ‘Hey!’, again, it’s such a uniquely Dutch thing and I’ve never seen it anywhere else.
They manage to persuade Yukina to chug her drink prior to the next song, massive cheering ensues but not before being interrupted by the next riff. I’ve also spotted someone recording some of the show with a 3DS which seems to be a bit of a weird meme at shows at the moment, was it 100 Gecs that started it? Maybe, who knows? Still a bit odd though.
As we’re drawing towards the end, it’s time for ‘NEET GAME’ and HANABIE makes absolutely sure that everyone is on board for the shouts of ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!’. The crowd predictably explodes at one of their biggest songs, chants and all. People expecting less moshy action seem to have drifted away from the centre a bit for a more comfortable experience but I can imagine it was a bit of a sudden wakeup that this is a metal show first. The insane level of energy tonight from both the crowd and the band has been a real joy to experience and sweat through.
They come back for one last hurrah to see things out for a bit of an early finish but the nutters in the middle of the crowd aren’t taking this moment for granted as they surge forward to try and get that bit closer to the band.
Tonight’s sold out show at Melkweg has been an absolute triumph for HANABIE and the smaller shows they’ve played up until recently in the Netherlands seem to have been the right bit of groundwork needed to secure a room packed out with people who absolutely love them. Amsterdam loves harajuku-core… you heard it here first.