HANABIE. delivers a final Harajuku kawaii sucker punch to LA to end their North American tour
Don’t let the colourful aesthetic and Japanese idol elements fool you, HANABIE. is hardcore metal to the max. Supporting the mayhem were Enterprise Earth and Nekrogoblikon, ensuring you left just as colourful as the headliner – only in bruises and splashes of red.
The audience felt like a fever dream: hardcore fans mixed with anime cosplayers, Japanese-inspired streetwear, and literal goblins roaming the venue. The Belasco’s sound and lighting team understood the assignment, setting the tone with a chaotic blend of memes and anthems from the Pokémon Theme to All Star. Want to see a 6-foot-tall man in a maid outfit windmilling in the pit? Done. A goblin shoving a red pepper into the chaos while Edward Elric crowd-surfs overhead? Also there. There’s no real way to do the insanity justice, it was something you had to witness.
Without missing a beat, Enterprise Earth launched into the set with primal shrieks, demanding the crowd wake up and open the pit. The performance was driven by guttural intensity as Travis Worland shook the room. Tracks like ‘Where Dreams Are Broken’ expanded the pit and sent bodies flying, while ‘IV. Chasms of Hell’ ignited a high-speed circle pit. Old fans were rewarded with a wall of death during ‘You Couldn't Save Me’, followed by another collision during ‘Casket of Rust’ complete with Worland throwing himself into the crowd mid-growl. Closing with ‘I. The Descent’, the band delivered an explosive finale that primed the room for the absurdity ahead.
Nekrogoblikon is pure absurdist chaos; a comedic, brutal fever dream. The set opened with a towering goblin inflatable looming over the crowd, lights flashing to circus-like electronic chaos. Then came John Goblikon (yes that’s his name), bursting onto the stage in a black and pink Harajuku outfit- twerking, dancing and wreaking havoc throughout the set. Balancing vulgar humour with wild energy, the performance never slowed. As ‘Show Me Your Goblin’ kicked off, the already packed venue surged into a crushing wave of bodies. The madness continued with rapid-fire death metal shifts, amplified by Dickie Allen’s piercing shrieks on ‘Darkness’ and ‘Bones’. After jokingly dubbing LA the “greater valley of Reseda” and teaching the crowd some “duolingo” Japanese obscenities, the band unleashed a wall of death during ‘Dressed as Goblins’. They closed with ‘This Is It' before revealing it as a fake out, detonating the room one last time with ‘Powercore’ – urging the crowd to stay “kawaii asf” for the headliner.
Tokyo subway ambience and J-idol sound design filled the air as HANABIE. took the stage, a stark visual contrast to the chaos before them. Frontwoman Yukina skipped out with cheerful energy, bowing and asking if the crowd was ready to have fun. After repeating the question in a cutesy heart pose, the illusion shattered like a shotgun blast, she unleashed a guttural scream that ignited the entire venue.
The only safe haven was the balcony. The floor became a violent, colourful tsunami as the crowd surged in unison to Yukina’s visceral delivery. Packed shoulder to shoulder, fans jumped and shouted as one. Opening with ‘NEET GAME’, the tone was set instantly. Between songs, the band offered sweet, kawaii thank-yous completely at odds with the sonic destruction they’d just unleashed.
Standout moments included ‘ICONIC’, where security scrambled to keep up with a flood of crowd surfers. ‘Spicy Queen’ turned the pit into a two-stepping frenzy, while ‘O•TA•KU Lovely Densetsu’ transformed the venue into pure chaos – maids, cosplayers and deathcore fans colliding in a full on warzone. ‘Choujigen Galaxy’ showcased the band at their best, blending hardcore aggression with idol-style melodies from Matsuri, creating euphoric, anime like highs.
They closed with ‘Osaki ni Shitsurei Shimasu’, as taiko inspired electronic elements drove one final frenzy. Circle pits raged without restraint, crowd surfers stacked on top of each other and cosplayers performed synchronized dances from the music video – all while the sonic assault never let up. Despite the brutality, the crowd remained one of the most respectful and joyful you could encounter. From trading Japanese-inspired trinkets and stickers to helping each other up and recovering lost items mid-chaos, there was a genuine sense of community. HANABIE embodies that same duality; brutal yet soft around the edges.
Their North American tour was a surreal, high-impact spectacle only Japan could produce: aesthetically vibrant, sonically devastating and increadibly fun. A show like this doesn’t just entertain, but leaves you walking out feeling undeniably “kawaii ASF”.
