Earlier this year, I was faithfully checking the Babymetal tour schedule to see if the ladies were coming my way. The moment I took a break, I found out their concert at Capitol Theatre had already been sold out 2 weeks ago! The date was so perfect for me: 20 August, the night of gojuukyuu! I had no doubt I would be there regardless. It was written.
And here I am. I've been on my feet for a few hours, waiting in the queue with everybody else, waiting for the show to start, enjoying the rockout session with local metalcore band, Reserate, who had the honour of opening for Babymetal. For my ticket, I put my faith in Viagogo, a second-hand ticket online vendor that constantly indicated 'sold out' until just last weekend when a single ticket appeared -- at double the list price. It was clearly selling for a profit on top of the $50 vendor service charge. I grabbed it with no hesitation. They offer a refund if somehow the ticket doesn't work, so I was pretty sure my purchase would be legit.
This non-priority ticket put me in the midst of the standing only stalls -- the best place to enjoy Babymetal's high-energy performance, though the view, as you see, was blocked by arms raised to waggle kitsune handsigns, or cellphones for a video or still grab. Other than occasional glimpses of the performers emerging between heads and raised arms, and the distance from the stage, it was difficult to see any coherent form of performance. It didn't matter. I had a ticket, I was there, I know how the choreography works from repeatedly watching music videos and official 'live' footage. It was such chaos and noise and wonderment just jumping along with the ladies, yelling myself hoarse, badly singing along to the parts of crowd participation baked into every single song.
Here's an example of glimpses of the performance from where I was standing. This is a familiar pose from the iconic Megitsune.
And here's SU telling us to turn on our lights at the break in Monochrome.
The setlist was a compilation of Babymetal's most energetic songs, with loads of crowd participation throughout. I've reviewed them all before, including their latest offerings, both Metali and Ratatata. It was precisely these two songs that I was so looking forward to. They're such a vibe, and to wasshoi with them, and blow the roof off yelling 'Ratatata' (and 'fu fu') at the top of our lungs was so much fun, it had to be done 'live'.
The cherry on top was the first encore song, 'Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!' which is kind of like Babymetal's version of 'Happy Birthday'. I couldn't believe it when I heard the opening bars of a disturbing 'Ave Maria' as it was the perfect capstone to the night of my 59th. Ok, settle down, boomer.
As usual, what follows is the complete setlist. This one raised my BPM to 118. I know cos I checked my smartwatch. The whole thing was only about an hour long, but that hour was one of the best I'll be spending this week. Worth it!
Babymetal World Tour 2024, Singapore, Capitol Theatre, 20 August Setlist:
(Opening band: Reserate)
Death
Distortion
Pa Pa Ya
Megitsune
BxMxC
Metali
Monochrome
Ratatata
Gimme Chocolate
Encore:
Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!
Road of Resistance
