The Masonic again played host to Babymetal, much like 2024. And much like 2024, they made it a very international affair. Tonight on the first night of a two-show series the stage would see bands from India, Ukraine, and Japan. Three very different countries and cultures with one thing in common: metal.
Luckily for fans of Babymetal, they were doing a proper tour this year. Last year America only saw them three times, with two of them at the Masonic. This year they wound to and fro across the country. The tour as it is currently composed will end on July 23 in Arizona. Babymetal just announced that they will be holding a special solo show on July 24 at Los Angeles' Regent Theater (which, unfortunately for me, is going to be on the first night of San Diego Comic Con, so I will not be able to attend). Even later in the year we'll be seeing them for the biggest show in the United States as they grace the stage of the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles. This show should be on the spectacular level of the Forum show many years back.
The night started with India's Bloodywood, who hail from New Delhi. First formed in 2016, they went from doing metal covers of popular songs with an Indian flair to creating their own music.
The three permanent members are Karan Katiyar on guitar with Jayant Bhadula and Raoul Kerr as the dual vocalists. They are supported on the road by Sarthak Pahwa on the Indian dhol drum, Roshan Roy on bass, and Vishesh Singh behind the drum kit.
Bloodywood's name refers to Bollywood, but if you made it darker and more metal. They've done covers of popular Indian songs like "Tunak Tunak Tun" and "Mundian to Bach Ke Rahi" along with western ones like Linkin Park's "Heavy." Most recently, and relevant to this tour, they have released the collaboration songs "Bekhauf" and "Kon! Kon!" with Babymetal.
The band's five song set started strong with 2022's "Gaddaar." They followed this with "Aaj" and Karan showed off his instrumental skills by pulling out the Indian bansuri for one of the sickest flute solos you'll hear anywhere. "Dana Dan," which you may have heard during the climatic fight scene of the movie "Monkey Man," was the heaviest song of the set. But of course playing "Bekhauf," the first of their two collaboration songs with Babymetal, was a given. For this song Su-metal was sadly just a backing track and did not make an actual appearance. They closed the set with "Nu Delhi" which might be the perfect representation of Bloodywood's music, combining metal with Indian instruments and showcases Raoul's rapping and Jayant's vocal range.
Bloodywood has a couple of shows left with Babymetal but will then split off on their own. If you're going to San Diego Comic Con, you will have the chance to see them at the San Diego House of Blues in the downtown Gaslamp District on Thursday the 24th. For those of you in Los Angeles county, you can catch them in Anaheim on the 25th at the Anaheim House of Blues at their final American date.
Next up is Ukraine heavy metal band Jinjer. Jinjer has a special place in their country's mythos and was given explicit permission by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture in 2022 to tour the world and help represent their country admist global chaos. First formed in 2008, Jinjer exploded onto the scene with a mix of metalcore, death, and djent. Vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk easily switches between clean vocals and murderous growls as she leads from the front with Roman Ibramkhalilov on guitar, Eugene Abdukhanov on bass, and Vladislav Ulasevich on drums.
The band made the most of their time, throwing down with a total of nine songs with the bulk of it coming from their newest album, Duel, released earlier this year. First up was the song "Duel," the namesake song for the summer Duel tour, and ironically the final song from the album of the same name. Duel is the fifth album for the band and fourth under Napalm Records since they joined the label.
Jinjer explores a variety of topics in their lyrics, some of them a little more personal than others. Leading with "Duel" shows that it's all about the fight within. We've all got demons we battle everyday and no person is perfect. "Green Serpent" itself is partly about Tatiana and her struggles with alcohol. "Fast Draw," which was written with input from Tatiana's husband Alex Lopez (of Suicide Silence), is about the fight within each of us when it comes to impulses. Imagine two gunfighters, both representing a choice, and their shoot out to decide who wins and which choices follows through. This is something all of us can relate to as everyone has that "call of the void" within them.
The band continued with more songs from Duel but also touched upon their older works from Macro, Wallflowers, and King of Everything. The final song of the set, "Pisces," has a lot to do with Tatiana, who identifies as a Pisces. The pisces symbol, sometimes depicted by two fishes swimming in a circle, sums it all up, especially when you take this newest album into account. It's a constant struggle within and without as we battle ourselves and the influences of the world, people, and otherwise.
Jinjer will be taking a few months off but come Halloween they'll be touring America once more, this time alongside Matt Heafy and Trivium. Sadly they'll only be making one stop in Southern California on December 3 in Riverside and none up north nearby me. They'll also be undertaking a European tour starting in January 2026.
But of course there's one more band in Babymetal for the night. The trio whirled away, as is customary. To be honest, if you've seen a Babymetal show in recent memory it was more or less the same tonight. That's not a detraction as that's exactly what we're hear to see. They play a lot of fan favorites which is something I love and I'm glad to see that a number of songs from the first album are still present. My favorite Babymetal song, "Megitsune," made a rare early appearance in the set and helped set the crowd ablaze. I will never get tired of seeing this song, nor will I tire of seeing another one of the classics, "Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!"
Metal Forth, their newest album, will be released in August but they included a number of songs tonight. They've been doing a lot of collaboration songs and this album is no different. "RATATATA" with Electric Callboy was a highlight for me, as was "Kon! Kon!" with Bloodywood. Bloodywood themselves came onstage to help perform this one. The three song encore included "from me to u" with Poppy, "KARATE," which I feel I haven't seen live in a while, and of course, "Road of Resistance." The girls of Babymetal came on stage with flags and these ones had an American flag theme to them. I'm glad to see they have as much fun here as we do seeing them.
Babymetal has a few more shows in the tour before it ends on July 23. As mentioned earlier, they will have a special solo show in Los Angeles on July 24 and a huge dome show at the Intuit Dome in November. I still have yet to see a show on Japanese soil due to the timing never working out (and given how much they are touring, the world, that's not saying much) but I have high hopes for the Intuit Dome show as it will be one of their biggest American stages in quite a while.
I've seen discussion online as to who should be the headliner for this tour with fans of both Babymetal and Jinjer dueling for their prospective bands. The truth is that they all deserve to be up on stage and each brings their own brand of metal. There's enough room up there for everyone and that's actually what I like about tours with multiple bands: you're able to see and hear things you may have not otherwise and maybe become new fans.
Hopefully you were able to catch the bands you want to see during this tour and if not, may you see them soon. You'll have a few more chances this year for each band so make them count.