L.A. Show’s What We ‘Wanted People Outside Japan to See’

Japanese heavy metal band Babymetal made history at Intuit Dome in Los Angeles on Nov. 1, performing its largest North American show to date in the group’s only arena concert of 2025. Such large-scale shows are common in the band’s home country, but American audiences were treated to a special in-the-round stage and pyrotechnics-filled production in support of the band’s fourth album, Metal Forth (released in the U.S. through Virgin Music Group). 

The setup was as impressive as the milestone itself. The fire-spewing square stage was rotated 45 degrees, creating a diamond with edges that nearly touched the arena’s four sides. That put the band — Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal, plus two guitarist, a bass player and drummer — in close proximity to its adoring fans. “We set up the stage right in the center of the venue so that the audience could see the performance from 360 degrees,” Su-metal tells Billboard’s Behind the Setlist podcast. “It turned out exactly the kind of show we’ve always wanted people outside Japan to see.” 

The 15-song set spanned Babymetal’s catalog, opening with “BABYMETAL DEATH” and touching on “from me to u” and “Distortion” before “PA PA YA!!” sent the crowd into pandemonium. Intuit Dome’s halo-shaped video screen that hovers over the floor added to the sensory overload by showing images and video of studio collaborators such as Indian rapper Bloodywood, who came to life during a memorable performance of “Kon! Kon!” from Metal Forth.

A surprise came about two-thirds into the set when Babymetal was joined on stage by Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante, who recreated the ferocious singing on “My Queen” that makes the collaboration a highlight from Metal Forth. The song is typical of the Babymetal’s intention to go “beyond metal,” as the band has said in previous interviews, by mixing genres and filling Metal Forth with collaborations with Bloodywood, Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Electric Callboy, Spiritbox, Poppy and Slaughter to Prevail. “Our foundation is metal, of course, but we want to combine even more diverse musical styles to forge a new path only we can create,” explains Momometal. 

The three-song encore featured “The One,” “Headbangeeeeerrrrr!!!!!” and “Road of Resistance.” The uplifting “The One,” from the 2016 album Metal Resistance, prompted fans in a mosh pit to lock arms, create a huge circle and sway from side to side. The song stands out in Moametal’s memory of the concert. “During ‘The One,’ cheers from the audience were so loud it felt like the ground was shaking,” she says. “My heart just exploded with joy.”

Listen to Behind the Setlist’s entire interview with Su-metal, Moametal and Momometal using the embedded Spotify player below, or go to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, iHeart, Podbean or Everand.