HANABIE. became one on the biggest international sensations to come out of Japan in the last couple of years: their completely unlikely blend of extreme metalcore and cheesy J-Pop went viral worldwide (along with their fun music videos), resulting in their first ever European tour back in 2023. That one already had a couple of sold out gigs and a show at Dynamo fest, but their subsequent EU tours (following gigs at both the US and Australia) saw them moving to bigger venues and included spots at several major metal festivals all over the continent. And this year they played more shows in Europe than ever before, in two rounds: they started with a lot of festival gigs during summer (including one at the famous Wacken Open Air) and a headliner club tour during Autumn. And they played in Hungary during both legs of the tour: in August they played at Sziget festival, while in November they returned for a club gig to a venue called Dürer Kert.

Read our exclusive interview with HANABiE.!

I went to see them at both shows, with the one at Sziget fest being my first time seeing the band, and honestly, it was quite a disappointing experience. Their chaotic music style that works so well on their albums just fell apart, the sound was weak (even though other rock bands at the same stage sounded fine), there were some technical issues as well and while the girls seemingly gave it all they’ve got (and the crowd was pretty cool too), it just did not work at all. However, knowing that they play at metal festivals all the time and those aren’t the kind of places that invite bands that play such so-so shows, I was more-or-less sure that it was just some one time problem. But I was not sure, so I was pretty happy that I knew that in just a few months, there will be another chance to check them out and see if I was right about this.

As expected, at Dürer Kert (where the main hall has an approx. 900 capacity and was eventually sold out about two weeks before the show) the setlist was almost the same as at Sziget, they just played for a bit longer and changed a few songs here and there, but that was about it. So, this way, it was even easier to compare to two shows and as expected (or more like, as hoped), there’s was a world of difference between them. While the festival show fell apart, here everything was in place: the sound was just epic, the metalcore parts sounded deliciously brutal, while the poppy parts offered a welcome breather and a bit of rest for the crowd. Yukina’s guttural growls were shockingly impressive live and the whole band came thru as professional, yet very passionate about their music. So, really, you couldn’t even compare the two shows and this second one was as surreal and entertaining as expected based on their albums and insane music videos.

And what an audience we had! Screaming, cheering, moshing and also, very diverse: it included some typical metalheads, some metalcore fans, anime geeks, sporing DragonBall shirts, cat-ears and the like, some people wearing t-shirts of random Japanese bands and also, a bunch of kids in cool street fashion wear. Some of these were pretty creative, modern and stylish, while others were more like a blast-from-the-past from the days when visual kei was at its peak in Europe and fans were wearing stuff inspired by the Japanese brands that were also dressing their fave bands. And the members of HANABIE., as always, also wore sets that were clearly inspired by the crazy street fashion sensibilities of Tokyo’s famous Harajuku district (which is the very reason why they are usually being referred to as “Harajuku core”), but they are not necessarily being inspired by the current trends, that are quite different, but the trends from 10 to 15 years ago.

But back to music: as expected, the setlist featured all of their current and past hit songs, including the recent fan favorite, Spicy Queen. While for most of the show, the huge LED screen on the back just displayed their logo against a pinky backdrop, during some of the songs they actually played the corresponding music video instead and one of these was the famous office-themed one for Osaki ni Shitsurei Shimasu, their international breakthrough track. While for most, that song was the absolute peak of the whole show (as clearly visible from the massive mosh-pit), for me however, it was Kotoshi Koso Gyaru (aka. Be The GAL), their fun track about Japan’s unique GAL culture. Yukina even got a fancy pair of sunglasses for herself for that one, but her funniest moment came when she tried pogácsa (the special, Hungarian version of scones, that the organizer got her from a famous local bakery called Daubner) onstage and started to rave about how yummy it is.

Which was a really sweet move and just added an bit of extra cuteness to the great gig. Probably the only down part was that Matsuri‘s clear vocals, while noticeably better than at the festival, were still quite weak at some points. For most of the show she was OK though, but there were clearly some parts and some notes that she could not handle properly. Maybe her voice was just too strained after all the shows they played. But that was just a minor issue anyways, not something that would effect the overall experience, so after the concert, I could go home reassured, that the show at Sziget was indeed just a weird glitch in the system and HANABIE. is actually just as great live as I expected them to be.

The setlist is included at the end of the post, after the gallery that also includes a couple of shots of the opening act, Sun, the solo project of German-born but French-based Karoline Rose Sun.

HANABIE. Setlist @ Dürer Kert, Budapest, Hungary

O•TA•KU Lovely Densetsu
Warning!!
Bucchigiri Tokyo
Spicy Queen
Meta-moru-phose!
Ware Amatou
Kotoshi koso GAL ~Shoka ver.~
GIRL’S TALK
Reiwa Matching-sedai
LOVE Ranbu
Choujigen Galaxy
NEET GAME
TOUSOU
Osaki ni Shitsurei Shimasu.
Today’s Good Day & So Epic

Encore:
L.C.G