The world-famous all-girl band BAND-MAID will be the first Japanese band to perform at Lollapalooza in the US in 2023, about 13 years later. On June 12th, they held a special concert at EX Theater Roppongi in Tokyo, welcoming the hugely popular Mexican band The Warning.
The Warning is a three-sister band from Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest city, that has been attracting attention since the release of their 2021 “MAYDAY EP,” attracting hard rock fans and recording over 86 million views on YouTube. The special performance that was held on this day was made possible after the members, who were originally fans of BAND-MAID, interacted with them backstage at the “AFTERSHOCK FESTIVAL” in the United States in October 2022. In addition, a collaboration song, “SHOW THEM,” was produced for the performance. At the end of the performance, they surprised the audience with their first joint performance, making it an extremely special performance for fans of both bands.
The back center of the stage was decorated with illustrations of BAND-MAID and The Warning, as well as lanterns with “BAND-MAID” and “The Warning” written in katakana, creating a festive atmosphere for the special performance. The day started with The Warning’s performance, which was their first visit to Japan.
The Warning stage began with the single “S!CK”, which has been attracting attention, including being ranked 8th on the US Billboard TOP Mainstream Rock Chart. The Warning, who are already popular at festivals in Europe and the United States, are in high demand for this performance, and this is their first live performance in Japan, but as they have performed on stages all over the world, they put on a magnificent performance from the beginning. They performed popular songs such as “CHOKE” from the album “ERROR”, which was released in 2022 and attracted attention from the world, and at the beginning of “Dull Knives”, Danny (Gt.Vo.) climbed onto the central platform and played a thick guitar sound to incite the audience. The thickness and power of the sound, which is hard to believe for a trio band, is based on an exquisite balance of the tight rhythm of Pau (D.) and Are (Ba.) and the heavy riffs and intense vocals of Danny. Another charm of The Warning is that the chorus work unique to the three sisters enhances the beautiful melody. They performed six songs from their fourth studio album, “Keep Me Fed,” which will be released on June 28th, including “Qué Más Quieres,” which has lyrics entirely in Spanish, and “Automatic Sun,” and left the stage to thunderous cheers after performing a total of 13 songs.
After the changeover, BAND-MAID appeared on stage with a red light and started their performance with “glory,” which started with a guitar riff by KANAMI (Gt.). When SAIKI loudly shouted, “Let’s go, Roppongi!”, cheers rose up from the venue. Continuing the momentum, they performed “NO GOD,” which started with a drum solo by AKANE (Dr.), and when SAIKI called out “Jump! Jump!”, the audience in the standing area started jumping like waves, and the performance reached a climax. During the guitar solo, KANAMI ran up to the center stage, and MISA (Ba.) followed suit and performed a bass solo. The members played happily, with KANAMI taking the rhythm to the rhythmic slap, and the audience’s smiles spread to their faces. After performing “influencer” and “Unleash!!!!!,” which highlight SAIKI’s vocal dexterity, such as his good sense of rhythm and the way he changes his singing voice to match the development of the song, the first MC time began. When Miku Kobato (vocals and guitar) shouted, “Welcome to The Warning! Let’s give The Warning another big round of applause!”, warm applause rang out from the venue. SAIKI, who also produced the artwork for the recent album jackets and goods, said, “This time, we tried to make the artwork for the stage look like a festival,” and revealed that the band’s name on the lantern, which symbolizes the festival atmosphere, was handwritten by Miku Kobato. When she said that she wrote it with all her heart, hoping that today would be a wonderful day, the applause broke out again. The contrast with the heartwarming MC in between the intense performances is undoubtedly one of the charms of BAND-MAID’s service.
They performed a series of upper songs without any ballads, including “YOLO,” one of their popular songs from their early days, and “Shambles,” which attracted attention as the ending theme song for Season 2 of the anime “Kengan Ashura” released in 2023. “Roppongi, that’s not it!” SAIKI hyped up the audience, and when KANAMI’s impressive guitar riff in “Screaming” began, SAIKI continued to hype up the audience, saying, “That’s not it, bring it on!”
After “Magie,” which has become a regular song even though it has not yet been released, BAND-MAID performed “DOMINATION,” a song about “world domination,” which is their goal. As the audience sang along to “Hello! Hello!” in a chorus that was brightly lit by the backlight, SAIKI put her hands behind her ears and faced the audience with a dazzling smile. As soon as she stood on the central stage and sang “Resonate with the world,” she spread her arms wide, standing there as if she was taking in the voices of the audience, and her confident and dazzling appearance was dazzling. The power of SAIKI, who has been exciting stages around the world for 10 years as the main vocalist of BAND-MAID, was particularly impressive, and BAND-MAID’s stage ended with a set list that was full of attacks from the first song to the end.
However, at this point Miku Kobato said, “Kobato, we’re not doing that time lol”, causing a stir in the venue. “Come on, everyone from The Warning!” she said, calling the three sisters onto the stage, and at this point, the “charm time” began, involving The Warning as well. Miku Kobato’s “charm time” is a call-and-response time with the audience, but on this day, an unexpected development occurred, with Danny from The Warning taking the microphone. She called out powerfully, “BAND-MAID! The Warning!”, which was met with shouts of “BAND-MAID! The Warning!” from the audience, and the two bands and the audience became one, creating a huge excitement.
Just when it seemed like the special performance would end there, Miku Kobato made a surprise announcement, saying, “We wrote a song together with The Warning!” After the two bands had quietly set up their instruments and microphones during the “spell-spell time,” the collaboration song between BAND-MAID and The Warning was performed for the first time, and fans were thrilled to see it performed together for the first time.
The song started with a powerful shout from Danny, and featured not only a mic relay between SAIKI and Danny, but also solo relays from the guitar, bass, and drums, while the harmonies of BAND-MAID and The Warning intertwined without cancelling each other out, resulting in a wonderful song. The collaboration song, which multiplied the appeal of both bands without diminishing it, was a perfect fit for a BAND-MAID × The Warning SPECIAL SHOW, and the curtains closed on this special performance by these two all-girl rock bands.
The final collaboration song will be released this summer under the name BAND-MAID with The Warning, and will be included in BAND-MAID’s first studio album in three and a half years. The collaboration song, titled “SHOW THEM,” sings loudly of a strong female image. Details such as the release date will be announced on the official websites and SNS of BAND-MAID and The Warning, so please look forward to further information.
BAND-MAID will also be holding a hall tour in June and July. The Kanagawa performance sold out immediately, but tickets for the Aichi and Osaka performances are currently on sale. Tickets are expected to sell out, so be sure to get yours early. Keep an eye on BAND-MAID as they travel the world.
Performance details
Performance name: BAND-MAID × The Warning SPECIAL SHOW IN JAPAN
Date: Wednesday, June 12, 2024
Doors open: 17:00 / Show starts: 18:00
Venue: Roppongi EX Theater, Tokyo
The Warning
1 S!CK
2. Z
3. CHOKE
4. Que More Quieres
5. Dull Knives
6 MORE
7 MONEY
8. Burnout
9 Automatic Sun
10 DISCIPLE
11 Hell You Call A Dream
12 EVOLVE
BAND-MAID
1 glory
2. NO GOD
3 Influencer
4 Unleash!!!!!
5. YOLO
6. Bubble
7. Shambles
8 Warning!
9. Screaming
10 Magie New Song
11 DOMINATION
BAND-MAID with The Warning
1 SHOW THEM New Song
BAND-MAID HALL TOUR 2024
https://bandmaid.tokyo/contents/733904
Tickets are now on general sale
Artist Information
Official website:https://bandmaid.tokyo
Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BANDMAID
Formula X: https://twitter.com/bandmaid
Official Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bandmaid.jp/
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The world-famous girl band, who toured the US to over 20,000 people
Their hard rock sound, which is in stark contrast to their maid appearance, has earned them support from fans and media around the world, with a total of over 200 million views on YouTube.
Reaction videos from fans around the world are being released one after another on YouTube, with over 40 million views. Supported by rock and metal fans around the world, they are now the most popular girl band overseas, with over 20,000 people attending their 2022 US tour. They rock the stages of major festivals in Japan and tour the world almost every year. To date, they have toured the US, the UK, and Europe, with each show selling out.
In 2019, she announced a tour partnership with Live Nation, one of the world’s largest event organizers, and released the album “Conqueror,” produced by rock legend Tony Visconti. In 2020, she announced an alliance with United Talent Agency as a development partner in the United States. She released the album “Unseen World” and made her Hollywood debut in 2021 in the Netflix movie “Kate.”
In 2022, they will perform at the world-famous music festival “AFTERSHOCK” and complete a US tour with an audience of over 20,000 people. Immediately after the US tour, they will also perform at Guns N’ Roses’ Japan tour.
The year 2023 will mark the 10th anniversary of the band’s formation and they will hold a 10th anniversary tour around the world.
They performed at four major overseas festivals, including Lollapalooza, one of the world’s largest festivals, and concluded their 10th anniversary with the final show at Yokohama Arena.
2024 is set to be the beginning of a new chapter, with a full album scheduled to be released in the summer.
In April, they released “Bestie,” a song co-written with Mike Einziger of the global mega-band INCUBUS, and are continuing to make strides on a global scale toward their goal of world domination.
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