Babymetal/Creeper – Manchester, O2 Apollo – 22 February 2020

By Jase Walker

Probably one of the most divisive acts in modern metal right now other than maybe Poppy, Babymetal come to Manchester in support of their latest album, ‘Metal Galaxy’. Playing at Manchester’s premier venue, The O2 Apollo, which has been host to an incredible list of some of the biggest band’s from around the world, this is going to be a good one.

Bringing Creeper with them for tonight’s show, they seem somewhat at odds with Babymetal’s style, but then again Babymetal have always seemed to be a bit of an oddball with the band’s they choose to support also – for example, Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Personally I’m not really a fan of Creeper but I’m not one to avoid support acts anyway so at the very least let’s see what they do for the crowd who very much seem to be here purely for Babymetal.

Against my expectations, as the band walks on they get quite a large amount of cheers from the audience – clearly there’s some fans in the audience! The whole band barring their singer is clad in white which matches the monochrome backing video they’ve got playing behind them. The sound on the whole is a decent balance of everything that’s on stage, which there’s a surprising amount of with the 6 of them rocking out – even the keyboards do a good job of being audible which I find is generally rare.

Objectively, the band sounds great and the crowd at the front are clearly having a good time with plenty of bobbing heads and raised arms. It seems they’ve won over some new fans and pleased existing ones with what they’re doing, ultimately the show washes over me as it’s just not really my cuppa. I can appreciate a band that’s done well and are good at what they do – they’re playing the main Manchester Academy later this year which is no small feat but I find myself just wanting Babymetal to take to the stage already.

Babymetal kick off with a massive video intro to the tune of the first track from ‘Metal Galaxy’, ‘Future Metal’ and the crowd is screaming! I am so hyped for this right now I literally can’t put it down into words, the vibe of the room is electric! Going straight into ‘DA DA DANCE’ with Su-metals vocals right at the forefront of the crushing sounds of their backing band, the moshpit is kicking off right below me, a sea of raised arms all showing the “Fox God” version of the metal horns.

Following this swiftly with the song that found them immense fame in the west, ‘Gimme Chocolate’ is well known for its goofy video with a full dance routine from the three girls. A complete social media storm saw this causing equal amounts of scorn and adoration and saw a mid 20s Jason absolutely blown away by them. I’m struggling to keep track of this show because I’m so crazy invested in every part. After a run through ‘Shanti Shanti Shanti’ and a new one that I haven’t heard before which was HEAVY, we get treated to a selection of solos from both guitarists, the bassist AND the drummer.

Barring the three girls, the videos being used on the gigantic screen behind them are fantastic, which includes a completely ridiculous video featuring the singer of Sabaton while they blast through ‘Oh! MAJINAI”, which is as hilarious as it is epic! ‘Megitsune’ starts probably one of the biggest moshpits I’ve ever seen at the Apollo: I had to point some video recording I was doing to the audience to capture this because it was just insane seeing that many people going berserk here!

Moving towards the end they play one of my favourites from their ‘Metal Resistance’ album, ‘KARATE’ which has both one of the most crushing chuggy verses mixed with one of the most uplifting choruses you’ve ever heard, this mixed with the choreography makes for an outstanding song to see live. I really can’t overstate just how much of an incredible show this has been so far, I may have seen them twice before in sweaty festival shows but the experience of their own show is something else entirely. For the encore we get a treat in the form of ‘Road to Resistance’ which just goes in full power metal mode, Babymetal are quite a varied sounding musical entity and they’ve displayed styles of metal that go from djent all the way to power metal like this.

This has been an absolutely fantastic show and Babymetal continue to show they’re more than just a Japanese Idol music band, they are a force to be reckoned with. Truly an outstanding experience start to finish and I’m privileged to see them again and I’ll be definitely booking out the time to see them again at Download festival this year. I will always challenge people on writing them off as a gimmick because a lot of acts are these days anyway, and it doesn’t detract from how much of an incredible experience they are. If you’re going to Download this year, please go see them – they won over Andy Copping, they might do you too.