The Babymetal World Tour 2015 was the second worldwide concert tour by Japanese band Babymetal. Supporting the international re-release of their eponymous debut album, the tour ran from 23 April 2015 to 13 December 2015, taking place in Japan, the United States, Canada, Mexico, and several countries in Europe. The European part of the tour commenced on 29 May 2015, less than a month before the worldwide release of Babymetal.
Background
Babymetal performed their first show of 2015 at Saitama Super Arena on 10 January 2015. At the show's closure, the band announced the tour with a key performance set for Makuhari Messe, the next part of the lore of Episode III of the Metal Resistance.
Prior to the announcement of the world tour, Babymetal released the song "Road of Resistance" as a single. According to Nakamoto, the song is about "paving a new path", which was the goal for the tour. She also explained that two weeks of rehearsals preceded the tour, which she felt was insufficient.
The first tour dates were announced on 10 February 2015, with dates for Mexico, Canada, United States, Germany, Austria and Japan. Additional dates were later announced in France, Switzerland, Italy. After the concert at Makuhari Messe on 21 June 2015, which became the band's highest attended show to date with 25,000 people, the band extended the tour with a new leg entitled Babymetal World Tour 2015 in Japan (stylized as BABYMETAL WORLD TOUR 2015 in JAPAN) and ten new tour dates.
During the tour, the band made appearances at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, Metrock, Download Festival (with prominent power metal band DragonForce), the 2015 Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, Tokyo's Ultra Music Festival with Skrillex, and Ozzfest.
Concert synopsis
The concert begins with an opening movie addressing the audience and announcing regulations for the show, followed by the playing of the accompanying Kami Band. The three members project silhouettes onto a curtain in front of the stage, which then falls as the band first performs "Iine!" The Kami Band back up the three with their performance as they dance magnificently to "Megitsune", and contrast their cute and pop songs with the heavy sound from their regular number "Doki Doki ☆ Morning", becoming heated on the floor. "Awadama Fever" has Su-metal performing call and response with the audience shouting "Oh! Yeah!"
Following the performance of "Uki Uki ★ Midnight", the three members leave the stage, as the Kami Band proceeds into a jam session that transitions into Su-metal's solo "Akatsuki". The audience evidently moshes in response to the vocal performance, which includes some croud-surfing. Next, Yuimetal and Moametal perform as Black Babymetal for their song "Song 4", which emphasizes their charming appearances to the crowd.
The three members collect again to perform "Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!" which brings the concert towards its climax. They perform a new song, "Yava!", which premiered during the tour, followed by "Ijime, Dame, Zettai" to keep the excitement up. The band starts "Gimme Chocolate!!" with Yuimetal and Moametal shouting "I can't hear you!" and "Louder, louder!" to the crowd in the interlude, followed by the audience parroting the chorus after Su-metal, who then shouts "Thank you!"
Performing the final song, "Road of Resistance", the three members of Babymetal reappear on the stage, holding flags depicting the band's logo. As the song finishes, the three members repeatedly shout "We are Babymetal!", and walk off the stage after yelling "See you!", the venue filled with heat.
Broadcast and recording
The concert held at Makuhari Messe on 21 June was broadcast live across 24 theaters in Japan with 5000 viewers in total. Wowow broadcast the Summer Sonic concerts held on 15 and 16 August, and will also broadcast the first concert held in Yokohama Arena in April 2016. The non-canon Apocrypha shows on 23 April and 24 April 2015 were released as part of "The One" limited edition of Metal Resistance, and the shows at Makuhari Messe and Yokohama Arena, as well as the show at Saitama Super Arena, were later released as a limited edition box set titled Trilogy: Metal Resistance Episode III – Apocalypse.