In much the same boat, RHCP are a terrible rock band and I've never understood how they got big, let alone as big as they are.

Babymetal however is enough to tempt me for a ticket as long as it's not too financially demanding.

£78!!!!

£78 to see one of the worst live bands around with Babymetal supporting and probably only playing a 30 minute set.

They can sod off

How much???

I'm glad I can't make it now!

RHCP are ten times the band that Babymetal will ever be, although I agree on one thing - BM will put on a much better live show. I saw RHCP last night and while they were very tight live, they lacked their old energy, the guitar was absolutely buried in the mix and there was zero (and I mean ZERO) banter with the crowd - didn't acknowledge them at all or encourage any sort of participation.

One thing that strikes me as surprising about this is that, originally Babymetal were considering headlining The O2 Arena themselves back in November 2014, but instead opted to headline Brixton Academy, and I've heard rumblings that the Wembley Arena date they did back in April this year was also originally planned to be an O2 Arena date, but obviously both times that would have been quite ambitious, especially as it seemed like there was quite a bit of space at Wembley so I'm unsure if it sold out or not.

But opening for a band like RHCP, who probably will sell-out all these dates, and blowing them off the stage each night will surely put Babymetal in a prime position to come back and headline The O2 arena. I mean their current fanbase is already beyond hardcore, so all they need to do is expand their fanbase a tiny bit and they'll easily manage an arena tour, and not just scrape by 1 arena date.

As a massive RHCP fan, I would rather them fill their setlist with a few more songs and have no interaction at all, I'm there for the music not to listen to them talk, even though they are funny when they do.

I got all excited earlier today when I saw Babymetal were playing the UK.

But the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

It's like Hinds supporting U2 or Savages opening for Sting.

Not going.

Boris are in London around the same time. Going to that instead.

I believe Wembley Arena holds @ 12,000. Whilst it was touted as "sold out" I would have estimated the crowd was 10,000 - 11,000.


I know thr guys in Von Hertzen Brothers. A couple of years ago they supported Ginger & The Wildhearts. After their set I said it was an unusual support slot for them to do. They replied they knew Ginger and he personally invited them to support him but from their perspective it gets their music heard by people outside of their usual fan base and the Prog community so if only 10% of those at the gigs buy their music it is a result for them.

I think it is the same for Babymetal. RHCP are very much a cross-over band, so I would say a considerable percentage of their fan base is outside of the Hard Rock/Heavy Metal community so it potentially opens up a new fan base for them, plus the global media coverage a tour by the likes of RHCP wouldn't do any harm either!

Disagree. RHCP are a bland, soft rock band with drippy band members who sit around in loafers drinking herbal tea. Not only do they have less skill than Babymetals kami band, who are basically all just a bunch of virtuosos, but their songs are nowhere near as ambitious or creative.

I think they had a brief spell in the sun in the early 90's, when they put out Blood Sugar Sex Magic, even though that album had a lot of filler, but I think it pretty much went all downhill for me after that. Granted, they won over a new fan base by basically selling out and writing dreary ballads for 16 year old girls (see also: Green Day), but I wasn't impressed.

Precisely.

Even if Babymetal get bottled off each and every night they'll still likely be better off for it, because they'd have attracted *some* new fans who won't have heard them before.

But realistically, they'll put on a blinder of a show and wow the pants off everyone and prove they aren't just a one-and-done music act like "The Cheeky Girls" or something and they'll prove that they are in fact worthy of headlining venues such as The O2 themselves.

My only hope is that there'll be a European headlining tour for Babymetal that's based around this RHCP support tour. I'll be living in Spain anyway at the time so it'd be nice to have Babymetal headline somewhere in Europe towards the end of the year and not have to see RHCP to get a chance to see Babymetal.

Are these girls still going?

I'm not a great lover of metal or jpop so I'll never be a fan. That said, I didn't get them when I first heard about them on here and took the piss a little. But now I can kinda understand what they are about and I have to admit, they may have some validity.

Like for anyone wondering about that chocolate song lyrics, I can't understand it all but I get the jist, that they are singing about having to watch their weight but wanting chocolate. Idol singers have to follow strict rules, and be perfect. So that kinda puts a new perspective on it, I guess they are a kind of rebellion against the idol industry, which makes them make a lot more sense to me. I guess they are an interesting band when you look at them from that perspective.

Being a virtuoso doesn't make you a good musician. It makes you a good instrumentalist. These are two different things. Michael Angelo Batio could play any guitar player in the world under the table - this doesn't prevent his music from sounding like absolute garbage.

Let's have this conversation again in five years and see if Kami band have written a classic riff like 'Under the Bridge' or 'Can't Stop'. Ta.

I think that's what I'm kind of saying though. Not only could they play anything, I personally think they're great musicians too. They're not actually my favourite musicians, that'd be a difficult one. I'd probably put Opeth up there, maybe early Amorphis, but yes I do agree, often the simpler, well written songs are better, certainly something I can agree with. Longevity doesn't matter to me or what other people remember, it's just what I like that matters to me. I think I will still like it in 5 years.

I think in terms of pure technical ability Dream Theater are probably the best band in the world of any genre, but that is based on pure technical ability, they certainly aren't everyone's cup of tea!

Back on topic...

I took the plunge and bought a ticket for the Dec 5 O2 show this morning. Still don't know if I'll stay for the RHCP show, but may give them a go to see if they're any good live and get a bit more value for the ticket price.

How much did you pay?

Too much

Haha, yeah I couldn't justify it, especially since I'd probably have to leave afer the Babymetal set. If they were supporting a decent metal band I would have probably gone for it, but then it'd probably be much cheaper if that were the case too. Last band I saw was Amorphis, only cost like £15.

Another O2 date added "due to incredible demand" . Wonder which band is driving that demand?

https://twitter.com/MyTicketUK/statu...56841498001408

I don't do that many gigs (this will be my first since BM's Wembley gig), so I don't mind paying a bit for the ones I do go to.

Honestly I would have thought there'd be a nice balance between the two bands to maximize sales.

I mean there's next to no crossover between the Babymetal fanbase and the RHCP fanbase, and the RHCP fans are obviously the ones who would sell out a few stadium dates, but the Babymetal fanbase is so crazily passionate about Babymetal that I could quite easily imagine quite a large number of them shelling out £78 just so see BM play for 45-60 minutes.

THat was the thing that surprised me about the Wembley gig. there were so many who had travelled from overseas to see them. Not just from Europe, big London gigs always attract visitors from mainland Europe, but from America and especially Japan as well.

Yep, because I was stuck outside in the NW entrance queue for what seemed like an eternity (in reality it was only 90 minutes), and I was quite literally the only Brit in the area in my queue. There was a South African couple, a group of Japanese men, a duo from Spain plus some girls from USA.

It was quite mindblowing just how international the tiny portion of my queue was. So I would not at all be surprised if many come travelling in just to see Babymetal deliver a supporting performance.

I can imagine there being quite a polarized set of fans for this event, not sure if it will be a happy mix, knowing some RCHP fans who take their music very seriously won't really appreciate BM supporting.

I can also envisage most BM fans leaving after their performance - I know I would.

I'd like to give it a go but I'm going t wait for the next big UK BM event, probably next year - read hopefully

I'm tempted to go just for Babymetal, but can't really afford it.

Babymetal to me sound like listening to the opening and closing titles of a science fiction anime simultaneously, and that's an awesome thing to sound like.