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BABYMETAL
+ Reliqa
@ Margaret Court Arena,
Melbourne
11th June, 2023
(Live Review)

Review by Michael Gow

Photos by Len Panecki

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Babymetal / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Tonight’s the night when Babymetal takes the stage in Melbourne for their first-ever Australian headline tour. The only other time Babymetal was here was at Good Things 2018. That day Babymetal pulled a huge crowd, and I knew there and then that they had enough support to come and do their headline tour one day.

Not knowing when that day would come many Australian Babymetal fans would rely on YouTube to see them perform on stages around the world. Fast track to 2023 and SURPRISE! Babymetal announced their first-ever Australian tour and tickets were selling fast the moment they went on sale.

Not only did I want to see Su-metal & Moa-metal and Momo-Metal perform on stage but also wanted to see the amazing Kami band in action. Also, earlier this year it was official that after Yui-Metal’s departure back in 2018 when it was officially announced she’d left. Fans were left wondering if would Babymetal stay a 2 piece or would a new member become part of the group. It was officially announced the new member of the group is Momo-Metal who had been a dancer and backup singer during the last few years but now it was official that Momoko was to be welcomed into the Babymetal story.

Tonight, I was hoping to hear all my favourite songs from their back catalogue as I’ve been a fan for many years, I would appreciate whatever they performed for us as all their songs are great in their way.

Crowds were massing outside MCA for not only Babymetal at Margaret Court Arena but also for Blackpink next door in Rod Laver Arena. The only way you could tell fans apart were that Metalheads were lining up all dressed up in their favourite metal gear. Also accompanying the metal heads were the occasional fan dressed up in their favourite member of Babymetal or the Kami band.

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Reliqa / Photographer – Len Panecki

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But first up for the night is Sydney-based Reliqa whom I’m familiar with and the last time I saw them live was at the Full Tilt festival at PICA. Their set started with the lights down and just the Reliqa logo appearing on the screen at the back of the stage. The drummer came out first starting the drums for the ‘Bearer of Bad News’ followed by the rest of the band Monique Pym (Vocals/Keyboards), Brandon Lloyd (Guitars), brothers Miles & Benjamin Cox (Bass & Drums), When Monique sang her voice soared across Margaret Court Arena. The whole band seemed on top of their game tonight. Monique was dancing around on stage, and you could see the crowd starting to dance along with her. The crowd was getting into Reliqa, and they were the opening act. During several songs, Monique asks the fans to raise their arms and clap to the songs, and of course, we were happy to.

During their third song of the set ‘Hangman’ Monique says to the fans “You’re so good at that Melbourne” When she asked us to clap along to the song. Then Brandon comes out with an amazing guitar solo during ‘Hangman’ and the crowd gave thunderous applause to the solo.

The next song was ‘The Halfway Point’ where Monique started the song on the keyboard on her own which led to the rest of the band thundering in with their presence. During ‘The Halfway Point’ Brandon disappears backstage to what looked like a guitar issue, But the rest of the band continued as professionals do in this situation. Brandon then re-appears with a different guitar and carries on.

Before the fourth song of their set starts, Monique goes to the microphone with a little speech about the night and says, “We dedicate this song to Babymetal and their crew the songs called Safety”.  

The crowd seems to be enjoying every moment of Reliqa’s performance to the delight of the band.

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Reliqa / Photographer – Len Panecki

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The next song was to slow things down for a moment and ‘Second Nature’ started with Monique and just the Reliqa logo behind her while she was on the keyboard on her own then the band came in. The audience all as one raise their mobiles with their torches on and it was a magical sight to see.

The next song was up and the fans were given a special surprise as Reliqa was about to perform a new unreleased song ‘Cave’ which is heavy, and it got the crowd instantly moving and headbanging. So, the band is on to something with this unreleased song.

The way Reliqa performed to the crowd and the crowd being very enthusiastic about their performance it won’t be long before they will headline be venues The whole band brought it tonight with their performance as it got heavier and heavier throughout the night.

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Reliqa / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Now it was time to finally worship the fox god along with Babymetal. The first sign of Babymetal about to appear on stage was when the voice of Su-Metal came over the speakers along with a visual presentation on the screen explaining this stage of Babymetal’s story. If you are familiar with the Lore behind Babymetal you will know the stage they’re at. Words appear on the screen saying “A long time ago in a heavy metal galaxy” followed by an image of a planet and then 3 Coffins representing the 3 members of Babymetal. The visual presentation ended with the Babymetal logo appearing on the screen.

In came the Kami band while the voice of Su-Metal was still explaining the story to us the fans telling us to continue worshiping the fox god. The three members of Babymetal came out in shiny sequined dresses and raised their hands in the sign of the fox god.

There is thunderous applause from the crowd as the first song starts playing which is ‘Babymetal Death’. All 3 Babymetal members start instantly moving around on stage very actively. This continues with their next song ‘Megitsune’ in which the crowd is already involved with the pit jumping up and down and moving to the music.

Following on from ‘Megitsune’ is ‘Line!’ where the three members of Babymetal have their backs turned to the audience. They then turn around creating shapes with their hands and now the crowd is energised for what’s to come. Su brings out a Fox mask and displays it to the crowd then throws it aside as the crowd opens a circle pit and this is when you know the crowd is getting into it.

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Babymetal / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Throughout the night Babymetal were doing their well-choreographed moves such as what looked like a caterpillar when they were joined one by one by their arms running behind each other.

The next song on their set was ‘Shanti Shanti Shanti’ with its a very Indian-sounding flavour to the song. The 3 members of the group turned towards each other in a triangle as they danced around.

Following on from ‘Shanti Shanti Shanti’ the stage goes dark, and the audience is wondering what’s next. Then a dance backing track starts with a lot of bass and then the band starts the song ‘Maya’ off Babymetal’s latest offering ‘The Other One’ and now things were kicking up a notch with the heaviness of the music. The next song up the stage goes dark again and the members of the group appear back on stage to one of the hits of their latest offering called ‘Mirror Mirror’ and you could hear the crowd singing along to every word as best they could. During the performance of ‘Mirror Mirror’ the screen behind turns white and the lights go down to make a silhouette of Su, Momo & Moa Metal which looked amazing.

Su’s vocals throughout this performance showed just what an amazing singer she is as her vocals soared across the arena. Following on from ‘Mirror Mirror’ was the hit song ‘BxMxC’ off their album Metal Galaxy. It showcases Su’s vocals against the heaviness of the Kami Band. A pit once again opens as these leads into their biggest hit so far off their new album ‘The Other One’ called ‘Monochrome’ where you could tell the crowd knew every word as you could hear them screaming it across the arena.

The theatrics of this group shows just how they can bring an audience the best performance they will remember for years after tonight.

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Babymetal / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Su asks the crowd to light up the arena. So, we get our mobile phones with our torches on and raise them to the sky and as you look around it looks so magical like you’re in amongst the stars.

Following on from this the next song is ‘Distortion’ where Su asks and motions with her hands to the crowd to open the pit for a circle pit this is the biggest circle pit of the night so far as most of the crowd close to the stage take part in it.

The next song was ‘Pa Pa Ya’ featuring Thai Rapper F. Hero up on the big screen behind Babymetal and the Kami Band.

Not to outdo themselves but as Babymetal and the Kami band start one of their biggest hits ‘Gimme Chocolate’ the crowd starts a circle pit even bigger than the last. One wonders if the whole crowd on the floor will be involved before the end of the night. Now crowd surfing has also begun.

Next up was the song ‘Road of Resistance’ co-written by members of DragonForce. Now the fans were involved as out came the infamous Row pit where part of the audience on the floor sat down doing the rowing motion all together. During ‘Road of Resistance’ Su holds the microphone out to instruct the audience to sing along with ‘Woah Ohs’.

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Babymetal / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Thunderous applause comes over the arena in waves as the night has ended where some fans had tears in their eyes as they knew the night was over when they saw their favourite Japanese band perform in a headline concert for the first time in Australia after Babymetal’s appearance at Good Things Festival a few years ago.

Lights go out but there is a sense that something else was to come and music started to play over the speakers and the screen lit up with a message and voiceover from Su-Metal talking about the fox god and new beginning. Then they performed a new song ‘Metal Kingdom’.

Last song of the night although we didn’t know that the time was one of their oldest hits ‘Ijime, Dame, Zettai’ where Su motioned with her hands for the crowd on the floor to perform a Wall of Death and the crowd was happy to participate.

The song ended and then all 3 members came together to what looked like a quick game of thumb wars.

Ending the night was a quick chat on “We are Babymetal” three times and Su thanked the crowd and then this magical night where all Melbourne Babymetal fans came together to immerse themselves in the music that was Babymetal.

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Babymetal / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Check out Len Panecki’s full gallery of this event HERE

Follow BABYMETAL
Website – Facebook – Twitter – Instagram

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Babymetal / Photographer – Len Panecki

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Press Release 19th May 2023 (below) HERE

BABYMETAL
add special guests
RELIQA
to first
Australian Headline Tour

Brisbane show sold out

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AMNPLIFY – DB