A few weeks ago, Japanese pop-cult sensation Babymetal announced a handful of North American tour dates, but Boston was unexpectedly shut out. We thought maybe they'd be named to Boston Calling Music Festival, given the May itinerary, but it turned out that wasn't the case, either.
All we needed, however, was some patience, as today Babymetal expanded their United States tour dates to include a May 5 stop at the House of Blues in Boston (tickets go on sale Friday).
Your Cinco De Mayo party just got real.
After becoming something of an unreal phenomenon in Japan, Babymetal are crashing our shores to promote their sophomore album, Metal Resistance, out April 1 via RAL/Sony Music. Other new dates on their tour include stops in Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
For the uninitiated, here is some background, via their tour announcement: "2015 was a breakout year for Babymetal, the young trio of 17-year-old Su-Metal (vocal, dance) and 16-year-olds Yuimetal (scream, dance) and Moametal (scream, dance), backed by a four-piece band packing a heavy metal arsenal: they re-released their 2014 chart topping self-titled debut album, were the most sought-after band at Rock on the Range, and completed sold-out dates at Chicago's House of Blues and New York City's Hammerstein Ballroom."
Proving they are no mere novelty act (as if something that sounds like a symphonic, female-trio-vocaled version of Manowar, t.A.T.u., Rammstein, System of a Down, and a New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and J-Pop hybrid could ever be such a thing), Babymetal have already won several awards. Those include the "Breakthrough Act" award at the 2015 Metal Hammer Golden Gods, the "Spirit of Independence" award at the 2015 Relentless Kerrang! Awards, and MTV Europe's "Wildcard Best Japanese Act". They were also named "Women of the Year" at VOGUE Japan's "Women of the Year 2015" Awards.
Their debut studio album Babymetal hit Number 1 on Japan's album chart and Billboard's World Album Chart, and the video for "Gimme Chocolate!!" has scored more than 40 million views on YouTube. None of this, however, will prepare us for the live Babymetal experience.
Get ready.
"BABYMETAL WORLD TOUR 2016":
Wednesday, May 4 - Playstation Theater - New York, NY
*Thursday, May 5 - House Of Blues - Boston, MA
Saturday, May 7 - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, May 8 - Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion (Festival) - Concord, NC
Tuesday, May 10 - The Fillmore - Silver Spring, MD
Wednesday, May 11 - The Fillmore - Detroit, MI
Friday, May 13 - House of Blues - Chicago, IL
Saturday, May 14 - Northern Invasion (Festival) - Somerset, WI
*Tuesday, July 12 - Showbox SoDo - Seattle, WA
*Thursday, July 14 - Regency Ballroom - San Francisco, CA
*Friday, July 15 - Wiltern Theater - Los Angeles, CA
Watch some Babymetal videos below...