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Babymetal have never had much luck at Download. Ever since their first performance at the festival in 2015 as guests for Dragonforce, they’ve somehow managed to arrive amidst massive downpours. It’s got to the point where fans have joked on Reddit about the band being cursed, and with their last performance in 2024 cut in two thanks to, you guessed it, heavy rain, you’d be hard pressed to argue.
Imagine the sheer delight, then, when Sumetal addresses the crowd with a beaming grin: “we’re so happy to be with you, with SUNSHINE!”
The next 50 minutes or so fly in giddy, joyous exuberance. There are well-honed parts of the show that by this point feel like beloved fixtures: a big dramatic intro video, the staccato blasts of BABYMETAL DEATH, and screams of zeal when the core trio of Su-Metal, Moametal and Momometal spring onto the stage.
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But there’s also the sense that this is the experience Babymetal have wanted to give fans for a decade now. It’s striking just how diverse the crowd are, young kids, teenagers and old school metallers all popping up on the big screens. At the same time, it feels reflective of just how broad Babymetal’s sound is.
We’re treated to the high-speed riffs and breakdowns of Poppy feature From Me To U, power metal overdrives of hyperspeed guitar on the Alissa White-Gluz-sporting Distortion and even the all-out brutality of deathcore on Slaughter To Prevail Collab Song 3.
Yet, somehow, it all works together. Even with the features relying on backing tapes (you’d need a full revolving festival lineup just to cover their set otherwise), Babymetal don’t fall into the same trap as others who use pre-recorded features – and there are many in metal now, from Bring Me The Horizon to Amon Amarth and Bloodywood – in that instead of standing around looking lost when these segments come up, Babymetal are literally always on the move, dancing, bouncing and just generally filling the stage with a sense of electric energy.
In turn, the crowd goes nuts. From bouncing along and howling back the lyrics to Pa Pa Ya!! And RATATATA (played for a second time this weekend), to headbanging and kicking off massive pits to Gimme Chocolate!! and an impressively pyro-scorched Road To Resistance, the show feels both like an overdue homecoming and a celebration of their shift from metal’s fringes to one of its most exciting and beloved acts.
With a bigger and more vocal crowd than even the headliners later today, it feels like the world is Babymetal’s for the taking. Thank the Fox God the curse has been lifted.