Happiest place on earth

Babymetal took to the stage at Glastonbury Festival at 14:35 (UK time) today and performed eight songs that eventually left the audience (and I have to presume this would include everybody that saw this on TV as well) a very happy lot. They played two songs from the first album, two from the second and four from the upcoming “Metal Galaxy” release. Fans are going crazy over a very Indian Bollywood type song that they are doing now and it really could be a massive hit. You hear it once and your brain sucks it up and replay it in your head. It is a very happy song too, so it suits them just fine. The third girl today was the same that performed with them on June 28 in Yokohama, Riho Sayashi. Kerrang Magazine is already speculating that she might be the new face in Babymetal, and it is likely that she will perform in London as well on July 2. However, the current mythology is that the Fox God has summoned up three new dancers and my guess is that they will stick to that story for now.

Glastonbury Festival was a success and this means a lot for Babymetal as they take on the world again, and the Metal Galaxy.

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Talk of the day (Tex Willer, Nazareth, Xena)

TEX WILLER

So glad that good old Tex Willer is published in Sweden again. Here we have the first three albums in the new series from Ades Media. These are comics that has been created in the last few years and it is all in colour. A bit expensive but who cares about that when somebody has finally reintroduced Tex over here again.

NAZARETH

More coloured Vinyls are coming up from Nazareth within a couple of weeks. Pretty excited to get “Close Enough For Rock´n´Roll” in blue, but I will certainly add a few more to the old collection, now that I have the chance. Besides, I will have that music room by September and that makes Vinyl very attractive again. Superior format although I will not quit CDs.

XENA

We have a new Xena comic book titled “Mind Games” coming up in August from Dynamite Entertainment. It is the second volume in the new series. Glad to see that Xena is still out there. I think a Xena movie would be pretty interesting right about now. A hard kick-ass Xena can never fail if you do it right.

(My image of the Tex Willer books)

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Babymetal Yokohama guest dancers identified

There is no stopping the Babymetal community from figuring out who the guest dancers that are currently working with them are. On the first night in Yokohama (June 28) it was Riho Sayashi, a former member of Morning Mesume. But worthy of note is that she also went to the Actor´s School Hiroshima with Suzuka Nakamoto (Su-metal) all those years ago when they were both kids. The second girl is a current member of Sakura Gakuin and her name is Kano Fujihira. Now we all know that Babymetal came out of Sakura Gakuin so it is very interesting that they have given this young lady a chance to step up. In fact, she is the current President of Sakura Gakuin, an honour that was also bestowed on Suzuka and Moa Kikuchi (Moametal) when they were members. This means that we had three Presidents of Sakura Gakuin on that stage today. Now Kano is too young to fully replace Yuimetal, but she has been given a big chance to be seen and it is a nod to the past for the both of them that they have been picked. We shall see who they bring out at the Glastonbury Festival tomorrow.

Perhaps the third slot in Babymetal will never be filled in the traditional way we would have seen as a natural move. After all, bands change all the time. By the looks of it they really are cementing Su-metal and Moametal as Babymetal. Perhaps to honour Yuimetal and what she did? The third spot to complete the image of the trio on stage looks more and more like the rotation we see in the Kami band. At least for now.  Babymetal do things their way, we should know that by now.

(Info found on the Babymetal & Sakura Gakuin reddit pages)

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Midway

We have two WWII movies coming up that looks pretty good (check out the trailers). The big one has to be the big budget epic “Midway” by Roland Emmerich (premieres in November). The other one pops up slightly earlier (September) and it is also connected to the Midway battle. This one is called “Dauntless”.

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Testing gear

Well we had something like six or seven power outages yesterday where I live and I had to do without electricity for seven or eight hours. In the end I figured the time was right to test some gear (a prepper is always ready for a certain degree of trouble after all). Glad to report that this Camping Lantern (which I blogged about in August 2016) worked just fine. It generates power from sunlight and it was ready to go. A few of these around the house and you are set.

I will take this as a signal to get going again, this sort of stuff is good to have around.

(My image of said lantern)

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Babymetal Blitz! New Album in October, European Dates in 2020

Huge news from the Babymetal camp today. The third album will be titled “Metal Galaxy” and it will be released on October 11 in various formats. Also, a full European Tour will kick off in Stockholm (Sweden) on February 3 2020 (17 dates in all, first dates ever in Scandinavia and Russia). They have a month off after the US Tour this Fall and then they take on Japan again with four massive shows at Saitama Super Arena (November 16-17) and Osaka Jo Hall (November 20-21). I fully expect 2020 to be the busiest year ever.

Three backup members have been chosen to appear as “the third girl” for future shows. One of them appeared in Yokohama today. Babymetal premiered three new songs, two that has never been heard before (plus the new Single “Pa Pa Ya!!”). In a few hours (as I write this), the second Yokohama gig takes place, then they are off to perform at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK on Sunday. Needless to say, this is a Babymetal weekend for me.

(Image & album cover from official sources)

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Happiness is yet another Babymetal box – this time Tokyo Dome 2016

Got to love eBay. Sooner or later you will find what you desire, and I just landed the Babymetal Fan Club (The One) Box “Live At Tokyo Dome” (2016). Two complete concerts (four CDs and two Blu-rays), a superb Photo Book and more. These boxes are expensive now, but just wait for a few years and the price tag will be astronomical. I already own the official Blu-ray that came out in Japan (why not worldwide is beyond me), but this the De Luxe one. The Photo Book is incredible. This is my fourth Babymetal Super Box from Japan, I hope to get more goodies later on. It is rather wonderful to collect this stuff.

(Thank you for your support Kalle)

(My image of said box)

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Rising Sun

Babymetal kicks off their activities in public tomorrow and the day after (June 28-29) with the massive “The Sun Also Rises” gigs at the Yokohama Arena in Japan. Then they head over to the UK to perform at the Glastonbury Festival on Sunday (June 30). BBC will broadcast the latter. The advertised Fan Club box “Apocrypha – The Chosen Seven” has been shipped and is now reaching (The One) members all over the world. It features two concerts (Download 2018 and Dark Night Carnival 2018) and Sabaton singer Joakim Brodén can be seen in “Meta Taro” on the main Blu-ray as he was invited to the stage at the Saitama Super Arena that night (Sabaton was one of two opening acts). The box also includes a new song on CD in a golden package, “Pa Pa Ya!!”. This is also being added throughout different regions in the world on YouTube today (no video, just audio). For this song to really be super exclusive to this box, it needs to stay there and not see official release on the next album. We shall see. Meanwhile, Yui Mizuno (that would be Yuimetal, whom left Babymetal last year) is doing well and is preparing her next move. This news came out of a shareholders meeting that was held recently at Amuse HQ. Apparently, she will still be handled by her old company. She turned 20 on June 20. Moa Kikuchi (Moametal), who is still in Babymetal alongside Suzuka Nakamoto (Su-metal) will be 20 on July 4. Next weekends Nagoya shows are dedicated to her. Fans will also be able to see these shows in 40 movie theaters across Japan.

I still feel that they are holding a surprise card close to their chests. I fully expect a brand new track with a very high budget video to appear before the album is out. The DVD market (outside of Japan) needs to be taken care of as well, that is long overdue now.

Good times.

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Schlager

From Germany we have this Vinyl compilation titled “Schlager – der 60er Jahre” (I think we can all figure out what that means). Well I like some of these old songs (not least Nana Mouskouri) and I liked the cover so why not add it to the old collection? I was born in 1961 so this stuff (or some of it) was on the radio when I was running around pretending I was Errol Flynn in the backyard with the other kids. This was way before me discovering Deep Purple in 1971 and way, way, way before Babymetal. But there is room for a lot of good stuff in this old heart.

(My image of said Vinyl)

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Commando 5239-5242

Commando 5239-5242 is out tomorrow in the UK. Just google “Commando Comics” should you want to subscribe.

(Covers courtesy of Commando)

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