Band-Maid Sunday May 14th 2023 - Show Report

I was at the far left of the stage in the Disabled Section of the audience. I was about 8 feet back from the stage.
The gentleman who recorded this was up in the balcony and had a MUCH better view of the whole stage. However I was able to both see and be seen by the Ladies.


This was the opening act. It was the first time Band-Maid had used an opening act, as they normally perform what is called a "One Man" where they are the only act on the ticket. I'll be honest, Shadow Cliq sort of confuses me. They sound like they have potential, but they LOOK more flash, less substance and polish. If they can rein in the theatricality, and concentrate more on the music, I think I would enjoy them a lot more. As it was, the performance was distracting me from the music. The only 2 songs where that wasn't the case was their cover of Aerials and their last song, which I just had a brain fart and can't remember the title to.


The Ladies switched up the intro music for this tour. I like it, but I think I prefer the intro from last year's tour. It had much more energy and punch to it.



This was the FIRST time Dilemma had been played in the US. It had never been played outside of Japan before, is what the folks on the Discord Server who keep the setlists are saying.


As they played this the crowd energy seemed to get even greater. Saiki missed part of the verse, but we in the audience didn't care. And I was maybe 10 feet away from MISA during her bass solo.


Akane's drums in this song were like getting punched in the chest. But it felt good. You can also see where Saiki almost lost her balance, and stumbled just a bit on the left side of the stage. She was standing directly in front of me for most of that verse and she smiled at everyone in the audience while she sang.


Again, Akane's drums literally pound your chest, but it feels very good.


I was hoping they would throw in some of the extended intros or breakdowns, but they kept mostly to the studio release. Many of us in the Discord and even in the line outside waiting for the doors to open speculated, that because they had an opening act, instead of the 2+ hours their concerts nomrally run, they would have to pare back on a few things to stay under their alloted time.


220 Beats Per Minute of Progressive Thrash Met from the Ladies.


My throat started to hurt singing HEY...HEY... for this one along with my shoulder getting sore from throwing up my arm to the beat.


Even though there Saiki isn't singing, there is still a vocal line. However, it's Kanami playing it with her guitar. And it is beautiful.


He evidently didn't film the MC part before Secret My Lips, I wish he had, because it was very funny.


How is this for contrast? Compare it to Black Hole, or From Now On. This is just one of the MANY things I love about Band-Maid's music. They cover multiple different genres of music, incorporating it into their own unique sound.


MISA's bass and Akane's kick drum, there is a reason us fans call them the "Thunder Twins"


Really really listen to the lyrics. Choose me is a sort of messed up love song, where you are being asked to Choose a sort of hmmm well some people say BDSM relationship, others say other things. You listen and you decide.


One of their softer songs, with many different interpretations as well. But I really love it.


This song was written during their last US tour last year. It was written as a love letter to the fans. When Band-Maid came back to tour the US last year, they were very, very nervous and apprehensive as it had been almost 3 years since they had last toured the US. And they weren't sure if they fans would come to the shows, nor how their performances would be recieved. It was during their Seattle show, when the reaction from the fans almost knocked the Ladies over, with their enthusiasm and obvious devotion to the Ladies that settled their nerves. It was while listening to the audience from back stage at their Los Angeles show, that Kanami started to write this song. They then went on to perform it live at their January 9th Tokyo Garden Theater concert, and very few eyes were dry in the audience. Sitting in my chair, watching them perform this, listening to the lyrics, my eyes were very blurry as well. And Miku evidently got a new guitar, as that isn't her standard Zemaitis acoustic guitar she normally plays. There is something in the sound hole, her usualy guitar has an open sound hole.


He didn't record the full Omajinai Time, I wish he had, but I'll take what I can get. My voice was about gone at the end however. And even now, my throat is still a little sore.


The opening of this song still makes me jump, it being so sudden. But I'll keep DAN DAN DI DI DAN DAN my way. And You is performed for the first time in the US as well.


And if I hadn't been in a wheel chiar I would have been Jumping when Saiki said JUMP!


Another tear jerker song, with LOTS of us singing along. Saiki and Miku have said this is the song they want to close their Tour Ending concert in Yokohama Japan with. And I think it is very fitting.

I hope you enjoyed my off the cuff show report, and the videos. If you haven't listened to Band-Maid, please give them a try. I and many other feel they are currently the best LIVE Hard Rock Band touring currently. That is not to say, they are the WORLDS BEST, no what we mean is that as a LIVE Hard Rock band, Band-Maid is currently the best one that is actively touring. If they do what other bands have done and become a strictly studio band, that may change. But as a live band, there are very few who are as good as these 5 talented and humble Ladies.