BABYMETAL + Halestorm at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre

Tokyo’s BABYMETAL is a fascinating collision of J-pop and heavy metal that may have started off as a novelty, but has endured to become something more serious. They emerged in the early 2010s at the dawn of the kawaii metal movement (also known as kawaiicore or idol/cute metal). Fronted by vocalist SU-METAL, the group’s eponymous 2014 debut album was certified gold and found international success with the single “Gimme Chocolate!!,” which became a viral hit. Subsequent offerings Metal Resistance (2016), Metal Galaxy (2019), and The Other One (2023) continued to mine the seemingly disparate worlds of pop and metal, while 2025’s collaborator-heavy collection Metal Forth provided tangible evidence that they had gained the respect of the metal community.

The early lineup of BABYMETAL featured SU-METAL (Suzuka Nakamoto), MOAMETAL (Moa Kikuchi), and YUIMETAL (Yui Mizuno). The trio began as a subgroup of Sakura Gakuin, a more traditional-sounding J-pop act whose members would leave the group once they graduated from junior high school. Taking their name from producer Key Kobayashi aka Kobametal‘s concept that BABYMETAL marked the birth of a new genre, the band arrived in 2011 with the song “Doki Doki Morning,” which introduced their mix of sugary vocals and melodies with pummeling riffs and drums. Their first indie single, BabyMetal x Kiba of Akiba, debuted at number three on Oricon’s weekly indie chart in early 2012; later that year, the limited edition of another single, Headbangeeerrr, came with a neck corset to ease listeners into headbanging. BABYMETAL’s first major-label single, Ijime, Dame, Zettai, arrived in January 2013 and entered Oricon’s Weekly Singles chart at number six after selling 19,000 in its first week of release. Later that year, the Megitsune single and the live video Live: Legend I, D, Z Apocalypse set the stage for the release of BABYMETAL’s self-titled album and lead single “Gimme Chocolate!!” in early 2014. Soon after its release, BABYMETAL made the Top Ten of online rock charts as well as some digital chart lists in six other countries. That March, the trio became the youngest group to play the Budokan.

Finding favor with more adventurous metalheads as well as pop music fans, the band continued to tour the world, playing festivals and opening shows for Lady Gaga on her U.S. tour. They also racked up an impressive array of awards, including Breakthrough Act at the 2015 Metal Hammer Golden Gods and the Spirit of Independence prize at the 2015 Relentless Kerrang! Awards. In November, they released the single “Road of Resistance,” which featured Sam Totman and Herman Li of DragonForce on guitars. That song plus a live version of “Gimme Chocolate!!” were featured on the mid-2015 U.S. release of their eponymous album.

BABYMETAL’s next album, 2016’s Metal Resistance, was again produced by Kobametal and featured a heavier, slightly more serious sound and tone. The band spent the next year touring, playing festival shows and American late-night talk shows, and generally spreading the kawaii metal sound around the world. Highlights included headlining Wembley Arena in April 2016 (Live at Wembley arrived later that year), having their debut LP voted Best Metal Album of the 21st century by the readers of Metal Hammer, and performing with Judas Priest‘s legendary singer Rob Halford at the Alternative Press Music Awards. The group finished the year with the release of a CD/DVD set taken from their Wembley concert and an opening slot on the Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ U.K. tour.

In 2017, BABYMETAL continued touring in support of high-profile metal acts like Metallica and Korn, which kept them on the road for most of the year. Festival slots followed in 2018 as the band promoted their next album cycle. The single “Distortion” was released in May on their own BABYMETAL RECORDS label. Several more singles followed, including “Pa Pa Ya!” featuring Thai rapper F. Hero, before their third album, Metal Galaxy, arrived in October 2019; it was their first without YUIMETAL, who had left the band a year earlier. 2021 brought 10 Babymetal Years, their first compilation album, which celebrated their first decade in the business. 2022 saw the release of “Divine Attack (Shingeki),” the inaugural single from the group’s fourth long-player. A concept album about a virtual world called “The Metalverse,” The Other One, appeared in 2023. Following its release, Momoko Okazaki, a backup dancer for the group since 2019, officially became a member, dubbed Momometal. She was in the band for their two 2024 concerts at Yokohama Arena where 30,000 people attended as well as their appearance in the film Heavier Trip and their collaboration with Indian metal band Bloodywood on their song “Bekhauf.” The latter foreshadowed the group’s 2025 album Metal Forth, which featured the band working with quite a few collaborators including Tom Morello, Bloodywood, Slaughter to Prevail, and Poppy. It was released in August of a busy year which also saw them launch a radio show on Toyko FM and play a sell-out show at the O2 Arena in London.

After several decades together as a band, Halestorm find themselves still climbing. Their sixth full-length album, Everest, represents both a return to the Nashville-based band’s roots and an evolution into the next chapter of their career. The aptly-titled Everest is a dark, deeply personal effort that pushed each musician to their artistic limits, ultimately resulting in an evocative, genuine collection of rock songs.

Halestorm began working on Everest only months after releasing their acclaimed album, Back from the Dead, in the spring 2022. They enlisted GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Cobb who suggested they come into the studio without preparing any ideas or writing any songs. “We’ve never done a record like this before,” Lzzy says. “It was a very uncomfortable situation, which was good.” Joe adds, “We went in with the shirts on our back and 20 years of being professional musicians and we loved it.”

Lzzy’s brutal honesty and thoughtful vulnerability resonates through the songs. By opening herself up and accepting harder truths, she continues to create a space for Halestorm’s fans, who have found relatability in the lyrics and melodies since Lzzy formed Halestorm with Arejay in 1997.

Everest represents the next stage of Halestorm’s climb. It underscores the connection they have as musicians and as friends, and adds to the ever-growing list of accolades the band has achieved, including a GRAMMY win, another nomination, and seven #1 songs at rock radio.

VIOLENT VIRA channels her music from traumatic yet deeply relatable life experiences and extraordinary empathy for the world around her. That sensitivity manifests at both extremes, swinging between beguiling melodies and cathartic screams. The Mexican-American songstress born Amy Gonzalez, alongside bandmates Anthony Brown and Matt Bolling, has quietly emerged as a hard rock phenomenon with hundreds of millions of streams and dozens of sold-out shows.​Born to first-generation Mexican parents, she found solace in art. She went from listening to Mexican pop juggernaut RBD to obsessing over Selena and Michael Jackson before later discovering Evanescence, Linkin Park, Asking Alexandria and Three Days Grace.​Her 2023 EP, Till’ Death Was Never Enough, produced fan favorites “Collar of Truth” and “You’re Not Gone, You’re Just Dead!” She later relocated to Texas and signed with MOM+POP. Beyond selling out headline tours, she has appeared at major festivals including Aftershock, RIOT Fest, SICK NEW WORLD, Welcome To Rockville, and more.​Now, VIOLENT VIRA returns sounding like someone clawing their way back to life against all odds as an artist/band. The three piece continues on.