Is it really a year since Bambie Thug was playing a leading role in making Eurovision relevant again? It’s been a blur of touring since and you can see how confident they are strutting their stuff in front of a sold out 02 Arena. Plenty in the crowd know the songs too, something not seen often when an act opens at this level. This is in every way a professional performance from the noteworthy vocal quality to the fun choreography. Bambie Thug’s trajectory remains as ever pointed to the stars.
A product of the social media generation Poppy transfers into real world art better than almost anyone else. A willingness to embrace multiple music genres as well as being rather a natural when it comes to stagecraft has helped. The US YouTuber mixes pop with metal almost effortlessly. In a world full of here today gone tomorrow fad superstars here we have someone with the credentials to forge a long lasting career. The only shame for those reading this is a blanket photo ban being in place for this artist. So you’ll just have to use your imagination as to how good the show was.
Playing somewhere as huge as the 02 is pretty impressive. Selling it out is with ease is another thing altogether. Babymetal have been a massive deal in Japan for some time now but have officially gone stratospheric globally. You can see why too. The musicianship is drum tight to a scary level. The choreography, a long term strongpoint of the band, is next level, and the vocals are much more mature. There’s still a kawaii vibe underpinning everything but that is more to do with the delivery of the dance rather than the full on visuals which are powerful and signify a moving on to newer pastures. In short Babymetal have grown up and now they boss it. We get older favourites with new stand outs including the latest single ‘Song 3’ which utterly rocks. Poppy re-emerges for ‘From Me To U’ which is a total crowd pleaser. This is a big night for the band and they push the boat out with a spectacular production including plenty of pyro and lasers. Based on tonight’s showing you can imagine those big festivals looking for a fresh headline act will have been given food for thought. Whisper it so the gatekeepers won’t hear but Babymetal just made elite status.
Review and photos by Gary Trueman