After reading your comments I understand that the band has it's own lore, and that's why they used the statue. Thanks for explaining in the comments.

Good reaction. Headbanger is about a girl going to her first concert on her 15th birthday, but 15 is also a significant age in Japan as that is when compulsory education ends, so she is realising she will never be considered as a child again and those first 15 years of her life have passed by so fast, so she is etching this special night of her 15th into her heart so she will never forget. You have explanations for the statue from everybody else, I may as well join in. 😉 It is based on Mary, but it isn't Mary (probably) - it plays a part in the story this concert was telling which is all about self sacrifice and re-birth, so the use of some Christian iconology, without using Christian mythology in itself, made it sort of appropriate. The concert starts of with Schubert's 'Ave Maria' and the girls making an offering (neck braces) to the statue which is representing the God of Metal and then they go into a very un-metal version of 'Headbanger' (mix of 15 - it is a dance version). At the end of the concert Suzuka Nakamoto (the JPop Idol) receives the neck brace from the God of Metal and sacrifices her existence as a JPop Idol to be reborn as the Metal Goddess Su-metal, chosen by the Fox God to lead the Metal Resistance. It is all theatre, take no notice of any use of or likeness to Christian symbology, there is no disrespect intended, it just looks cool (just like western bands might use symbols from Buddhism or Hinduism etc ... because they look cool, not because they mean anything to them). 😇

The name of the song is Headbanger ,the show was called Legend of 1997 performed at Makuhari Messe in Japan on December 21 2013 , and no the statue is not the Virgin Mary, it has different meanings in the lore of Babymetal

The image in the background is the fox God "God of metal" babymetal is the center of the metal galaxy.

Nice & thanks from Japan 有難う💛。Can you believe that this is the 12th song after 11 exhausting performance (and still 2 more) ? In this video, you heard the crowd shout some words at 04:23. The words are "ki-e-ro 消えろ!" meaning "get out of here!". This crowd's shout in Japanese breaks out wherever BM goes on this planet and whenever Su-Metal turns her mic towards audiences. Of course it did in 2019 US tour (20 gigs) and 2020 EU/UK/Russia tour (17 gigs). Last year 2021, eight years after this video, BM played this song in all of 10 BABYMETAL BUDOKAN Concerts in Tokyo with Su's matured voice and Moa's more agitating moves. I witnessed it 9 times at the venue and was enchanted to headbang 9 times ヽ(^o^)丿

Welcome back to Babymetal's "foxhole". As you noticed crowd participation is a big thing at BM concerts. It's big in Japan in general, but BM do it superbly well and part of Moa's and Yui's job is to rev the crowd up and get them involved while Su is imperious in the middle and the Kami Band trash. You mentioned being uncomfortable with BM's appropriation of Christian iconography in the Mary/Su statue. Well, then don't watch "Babymetal DEATH" as that takes it to another level. This concert is Legend 1997 and was performed in late 2013 the day after Su's 16th birthday. You will see "Happy Birthday" written on the bassist head as Su climbs the stairs at the end. Headbanger is a bittersweet coming of age story about a 15 year old school girl going to a concert and braving the mosh pit, while knowing the freedom of the moment won't last long and vowing to remember the night and the feelings. It's used to celebrate BM birthdays and both Yui and Moa have taken the lead in it for their birthdays. In this concert it celebrates Su's birthday and along with the following songs of "Unfinished Akatsuki" and "Babymetal DEATH" tells the story of how Su is chosen by the Fox God and transformed into a metal goddess. She sings "Unfinished Akatsuki" from where she finishes "Headbanger" and that would be a good song to listen to next.

Wonderful and entertaining reaction, Mirela 🙂 Others have explained the context of the song, and that of the statue behind the girls. It is important to understand as well that, being Japanese, it doesn't carry the same cultural context as it does to us westerners. I've found that Babymetal tends to use Christian references quite a bit as I do think they are aware that it will cause a reaction amongst their non-Japanese audience. I love it, myself. Having said that, you may want to skip the Babymetal Death performance from this same concert...

Nice reaction. Well if only the statue in the background made you feel uncomfortable I'm sure BABYMETAL DEATH from this same concert will make you feel reeeaally uncomfortable:D

In the early days, their concerts were carried out according to the Babymetal fairy tale. That's why there was storybook story playing in between songs.

🤘🦊🤘

Nice reaction 🤘🦊🤘

Nice reaction. I don't think anyone really knows exactly what the statue represents, but the best guess is that it's Su-Metal as the Metal Goddess. The meaning of that will be cleared up in their song Babymetal Death, which is also from Legend 1997. I think you can handle that song, and I would recommend it. 🙂 Babymetal used a fair amount of Christian symbols for a time but never in any disrespectful way. They're not into Christianity, but unlike other parts of the world, they don't feel the need to be against something just because they aren't for it.

Nice reaction, thanks! Well the statue is there for a good reason. They use a lot of christian items and paraphernalia but they are not trying to be unrespectful (or even worse... as others have said... hehe). On the contrary, they are trying to tell us a story with the whole concert and the statue plays an important role. And eventually becomes an homage to Metallica. "Headbanger" is a real BABYMETAL classic and one of their most loved songs. It has been used several times as a special number on birthday related shows: Yui and Moa taking the lead vocals for the last half, a couple of performances of a techno mix and also performing it with slight lyrics changes to honor the 20th birthdays of Su and Moa. Because the song is actually about coming on age.

🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 Gr8 REACTION, Mirela!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 I'm SUPER GLAD u enjoyed everything bout their live concert!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 U have many, many more live concert footages and MV's to experience from this AWESUM band!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 OH YEAH!!! U didn't even notice PIKACHU headbanging with the crowd too!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 NO WORRIES!!! U wasn't the 1st!!!🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 Many other reactors failed to notice PIKACHU too!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 WELL ANYWAYS!!! Enjoy ur ride and journey towards the BabyMetal's FOXHOLE, Mirela!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟 PUT UR KITSUNE UP!!! 🤟🤘🦊🤘🤟

Hmmm, the statue bothers you? You should probably skip reacting to Babymetal Death from the same show (two songs after this one). The statue isn't Mary though. Babymetal is from Japan and as such aren't necessarily Christian. A lot of their iconology is pulled from Shintoism, Japan's oldest religion. Around 80% of Japanese identify as Shintoist or Buddhist, or a combination of both. Only about 1.5% of Japan's population identifies as Christian. However, the Legend 1997 concert is bookended with Christian thematics and iconology with the opening performance of Ave Maria and the Closing performance of Babymetal Death. If you are up for a massive performance then I would thoroughly recommend Babymetal Death as it is truly spectacular. However, if you are easily offended by the use of Christian iconology, then you should probably skip the song.

BACKGROUND of what Image???

I agree with you about the silly religious statue, people should keep all that primitive nonsense in their fairytale books. They actually crucify Su-metal at the start of this concert though, it's actually great fun 😂

We love BABYMETAL!!!!!! BABYMETAL Rules!!!!!! BABYMETAL Forever!!!!!!!!! #MusicJapanForever

Another beautiful reaction from a beautiful megitsune 🦊🤘❤️ Don't worry for the imagery behind, when you get to know the complete show and the meanings you will know why, just in case, the image isn't about virgen Mary (althou they do have and Ave Maria intro oops crazy huh?), is SuMetal's face resemblance, and this concert was during her 16th birthday representing among other things, her sacrifice from human being jpop idol to a metal goddess with divinity status. If you think this is uncomfortable watch Babymetal Death song at this same live concert, get ready. In metal scene you will always have some provocative imagery here and there, is just theatrical, like the end of the performance. The official MV and the meaning of the song itself represents two different things, the song talk about a young girl on her 15th birthday going to her very first live concert (probably metal concert) and the melancholy of leaving her childhood behind, now becoming a woman. The imagery on the MV is a tribute to X-Japan songwriter and composer Yoshiki, a living legend and metal god, you will see neckbraces that represents the accident he got while headbanging in a live concert having serious injuries. The neckbraces were topic on many of their live concerts back then also called "corset", many of them carry the name with that reference, so yeah Headbanger! is a very meaningful song and one of the most favorite among fans. Keep traveling the Foxhole and the Metal Galaxy.🦊🤘

😉😉😉🤘🤘🤘

Nice reaction. That was fun. Later when Yui and Moa turned 15 Halfway through the song Su handed the mic to them. There are videos of them singing it. There is a video for what became known as Moabanger. Done in celebration of Moa's 20th birthday. Moa's birthday is the 4th of July. Consider reacting to Moabanger for her birthday. But you could react to Yui and Moa doing it for their 15th birthday whenever you want. Enjoy the ride through the Babymetal galaxy of music.

That statue bothered you because you assumed that it's represent an iconic figure, which it isn't. It's just a property for an epic ending at the end of the show. Open minded is one of requirements to accept Babymetal music

BABYMETAL, especially in the mid 2010's years, mixed in a lot of traditional metal imagery in their stage performance and heavy metal imagery for a long time has incorporated a substantial amount of Christian/Catholic iconography. BABYMETAL isn't out to offend anyone and I think most of the use of the use of this type of iconography, outside the lore, is to greater emphasize the juxtaposition of the cute/kawaii image with the harsh elements found in traditional metal. It's just theater. You might want to be cautious of reacting to the performance of BABYMETAL DEATH from this same concert if this made you too uncomfortable.

Dudes. It was intentional. The statue is intentionally reminiscent of the Virgin Mary. They *weren't* trying to intentionally disrespect Catholics. It is purely an aesthetic. It's not done with malice AT ALL. BUT it's still directly drawn from Christian imagery, and a devout Christian is valid in feelings of discomfort regarding their use of this imagery. FFS. We all know how the concert ends. It's fictional, we are not an actual cult, but the parallels to religion are blatant and intentional. Let the lady feel her feelings. Mirela, just know they don't mean disrespect by it. They borrowed elements but altered them to fit the lore they constructed around the band. BabyMetal is all about inclusion and love and acceptance. They just thought this stuff looked cool, they aren't trying to alienate religious people or make any sort of deep or serious commentary about religion itself. I hope knowing that makes it less uncomfortable for you. (Still, might be a good idea to avoid the song Death from this concert.)

Road Of Resistance even better than this !

Legend 1997

please react to treasure

YOu must understand that Christianity is not a thing in Japan, about 1% of the people are Christians there. That means that if they wanted to provoke or do something blasfemous, they surely wouldn't have used Christian symbolism :) It's mostly for show, because it looks cool and helps to tell a story, as others have already told in the comments :D

please react to BAND-MAID

Cringe AF.. Sorry not my thing 😅 But the back up just 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

If you feel uncomfortable about the statue in the back ( it's of who you think it is ) . Then you should react to BABYMETAL's song "Death" it'd make your skin crawl . lol..... But for real , most modern Japanese don't take religion that seriously . Because they can see the irrationality of believing in things they can't prove actually exist . Nice reaction though .

😮You have a problem with a giant statue of Baby Metal's lead singer, Su? Really?? The statue is a representation of Su. This entire concert is a celebration of Su and her birthday You have issues, kid.