The girls toured the eastern half of America earlier this year, and now it's time for the western half. As of press date, they're actually already at Lollapalooza in Chicago. This two-date set gives way to Minneapolis, and then further west to Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland, Spokane, and finally, my neck of the woods, California.

This time the capital gets some love with a show in Sacramento, and then they head down south to Los Angeles. That ends the US portion of the trip. They've got one more show in Mexico City and that's that. BAND-MAID then returns to Japan at the beginning of September.

Thankfully, tickets did not sell out instantly for the California shows. Last time around, I had absolutely zero chance of buying a ticket at face value for the San Francisco show. I was out in the field with zero cell signal. By the time I returned to civilization, tickets were long sold out. It was the first US tour since 2019, and the first time in San Francisco in god knows how long. Maybe since 2017's J-Pop Summit? Between last year's tour and now, Japanese bands are making up for lost time. We've seen a lot of names grace the US in the last eight months alone and we're not done yet.

Anyway, back to the single.

The single starts out with some very aggressive guitarwork from Kanami before the rest of the band joins in. There's not much else to say; let the music your ears and Saiki's voice fill your thoughts.

I appreciate how Misa's bass comes through prominently in the mix. All too often the bass gets lost in the mix.

I also appreciate how the band acknowledges their foreign fanbase and includes subtitles right off the bat. Many bands fail to appreciate their fans overseas and fail to capitalize on opportunities to blow up big. Shows outside of Japan are seen as something of an afterthought, and there are a very limited number of acts that have been able to come back tour after tour to America and elsewhere. I'm proud to say that BAND-MAID is one of them.

On a base level, Shambles can be interpreted as sticking to your guns and never giving up. "Follow the path of Shura," the Buddhist demigod of war. Those who walk that path are determined and unyielding and will continue onward no matter what troubles they face. "No thoughts of 'can' and 'can't,' No giving up just 'because'.."

The titular "shambles" are the ashes in the wake of your journey. "You were here, leave your mark."

This is the kind of song all of us needs at some point in our lives. For most of us, nothing comes easy and every step is a battle.

For those of you who are familiar with the manga and anime Kengan Ashura, the above should make sense, and Shambles is the ending theme for the second season. I'm not sure if Shambles will make its way onto any of the setlists but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

All in all, the song is a solid piece of hard rock and can stand alone even without its anime tie-in.

Check out the single here:

Tour dates as follows:

8/3/23 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza Aftershows
8/4/23 Chicago, IL - Lollapalooza
8/6/23 Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater
8/8/23 Denver, CO - Summit
8/9/23 Salt Lake City, UT - The Depot
8/11/23 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
8/12/23 Spokane, WA - Bing Crosby Theater
8/14/23 Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
8/15/23 Anaheim, CA - House of Blues Anaheim
8/18/23 Mexico City (MX) - PABELLON OESTE