Band- Maid / About Us (Live) | Metal Musician Reacts 

What amazes me is the fact that a waitress who did not know the first thing about playing a guitar created the musical LEGEND known as Band Maid. God bless you Miku Kobato- the small pigeon who soars like a mighty eagle! Live long and prosper! May the force be with you! Danger Will Robinson, danger! Kuruppo!

I just love Kanami's little hooks and intricacies throughout this song. They're hard to hear, but they're there. Kanami is just a genius composer. And loved her on Herman Li's stream - adorable!!

This song is so beautiful; and Saiki's emotion comes through.

They sound better live for sure. This song especially is meant to be heard live. I really like Miku’s background vocals. They all sounded great.

"About Us" is a love letter to us Maidiacs. But given the mood, BAND-MAID can go from soyokaze ni arashi (gentle breeze to tempest) in a heartbeat :)

More emotion is shown live! And in an emotional song like this, so much more dept,Po! Misa, the barefoot Assassin, is playing from her soul here, so good! Band-Maid just hits every time!

One of MISA’s best work imo! You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned precision! It’s a song for the fans and that’s why it’s called About Us

No matter what the tempo and flavor of the song, Akane and Misa always do 2 things: while doing exactly what the song requires, they go way above and beyond.

Yeah the live version of this song is absolutely amazing. And for Kanami, my god... How many bends were in there? Every single one was flawless. It was so good it's almost like she played it perfectly once and then looped it lol. She's just incredible. Thanks for reviewing this version!

The song is a love letter from the band that they wrote to their fans. Just before singing the song Saiki talked about the struggles of the band over the past year. Here is the English translation of what she said. It gives more meaning to the song and how they felt. Saiki: We were supposed to meet you today. For the first time in a year, we thought we could meet you all, those of you who could come to see us, but we can’t meet you in the end. I’m sorry. Even though it’s not my fault. We have been having days of turmoil for about a year. In the beginning, we were very surprised because we hadn’t experienced it before, and we had no experience of not being able to meet others in person. We were sad, but we found we shouldn’t be sad in this situation. When I saw you masters and princesses on social media, you were more depressed than us, and we thought that’s terrible. We Band-Maid have been thinking about how to cheer up all of you in the last one year. We truly wanted to meet you at Nippon Budokan, but it’s impossible because of COVID, so let’s wait for the day when we can meet. And in the last one year… or in the COVID pandemic, we have become more eager to cheer you up, and we Band-Maid realized again it’s important to give our songs to you. That’s why we wrote this song for Budokan. We made the album also in the pandemic, so it might have a little similar feel, but this song is planned for Nippon Budokan, and we really want to give it to you masters and princesses now. Budokan is not our goal but just a stepping stone. We will perform at bigger venues, and we promise we will bring you there and give you even better songs, so let’s keep it up a little more. This is our present for you masters and princesses. Please listen to it.

At the moment I heard this mix I ran to buy the DVD of the concert. The live performance sounded very well but the postproduction is directly wonderful. It reminds me a lot the lives of Studio Coast or Zepp Tokyo. Each instrument and voice can be enjoyed crystal clear. Wonderful music.

This is one of those timeless songs. Also one of the rare songs where Misa doesn't use a pick for the whole song.

It is very cool seeing and hearing Misa just using fingers on this one no pick on this song. Also you have to react to the video of Miku and Kanami jamming with Herman L ( for his audition for backup guitarist)from Dragon Force on No Holding Back. You have to see it to believe it.

miku and Saiki just totally out did themselves on this one, Mikus' lyrics and Saikis' vocals and phrasing are both outstanding

This is an masterpiece, Kanami doing those background guitar parts, Miku`s harmonies, Misa`s bass work, Akane`s drums, and of course the lead vocals from Sai-chan make a true musical masterpiece, there I'm done.

I hope everyone's doing well in these times. It's been rough for us all, hopefully it will all be over soon and we can get back to being able to get together again. The ladies of Band-Maid have said many times that they are having a hard time not being able to play in-person for everyone this past year. I think the first concert they schedule anywhere I can reasonably travel to, I'll have to be there day one getting the tickets. I miss being able to go to a concert way more than I thought I would.

I get what you mean with those facial expressions. I feel that Saiki especially looked careworn and wistful in a way that she didn't for the rest of this concert. It really hammers home how personal this song is for them and how deeply affected they've been by the pandemic.

This song is needing, loving and wanting, and all for the fans.

IMO Kanami is one the most underrated guitarists around today. And she just keeps getting better.

One of my current top favourites now. Such a beautiful melody, especially Misa's bass licks, an the lyrics is so beautifully written

YOU’RE FINALLY DOING REAL EXISTENCE LIVE?? LET’S GOOOOOOOOO

"About Us", in the vein of other great mid-tempo Band-Maid songs like Daydreaming, Anemone, Endless Story, PAGE, Wonderland, Awkward, Start Over, Mirage and Smile, is an amazing song and personal message to their fans - a direction I'm glad to see them add to their journey toward world domination. And we get to hear MISA play the vibe she so enjoys. Stretch Band-Maid... Stretch with all your might. We're behind you 100! Their new DVD/BD/CD of this incredible concert has been ordered! Thanks Champ, for bringing "About Us" to your viewers!

Everything they do is great but they do it even better when they do it live. So few bands I've ever been able to say that about. In fact, I'm having trouble thinking of any other at the moment.

I'm still getting emotional listening to this song, - even after several dozen plays. The lyrics, sentiment and backstory are so moving. the ladies have pulled off something amazing in this song....and gone one better by making a live version.

I love how the most badass rock band can put out a ballad that is basically singing "Everything will be OK. We're all in this together." and it just hits you in the feels.

If you missed the last live that this was taken from you missed an amazing show. They played so many hard and fast songs straight out the gate i was wondering if they would make the end.. But it's band maid they were still going just as hard 2 1/2 hours later

There one little vocal part miku did right at the 3:12 mark that added so much that no one seems to have picked up on

MISA MISA MISA! "BEAUTIFUL"

Love that song. 🖤 Next stop daydreaming. 🙂🎀🎸✌️

Kanami's Rig PRS Custom 24 (Green) Korina Body Amps Mesa/Boogie Triple Rectifier 4×12 Recto Standard cabinet Effects - When I compose, I don’t think much about the effects. I use it to enhance the songs I've already written live. Here are the typical settings of my pedalboard: Delay: Free The Tone FT-2Y, Eventide TimeFactor - I prefer using Digital Delay on the TimeFactor and on the H9, I use Spring Reverb. I use Free The Tone FT-2Y in a series circuit because it adds delays to a set tempo. TimeFactor is used to connect sends and return effects to clean and solo channels. On the other hand, I use H9 only for songs that use reverb. Currently, I only use it for reverb, but I would like to try more algorithms in the future. Reverb: Eventide H9 - I am a big fan of Eventide's so I want to keep using it forever! Volume: Shin’s Music Perfect Volume Drive: One Control Strawberry Red Overdrive, Fulltone Obsessive Compulsive Drive Overdrive Distortion - I use the boost pedal to add more gloss and deepness in the clean channel or to amplify the sound of the solo or riff. Booster: Friedman Buxom Boost Compressor: Pete Cornish OC-1 Noise Reduction: ISP Technologies Decimator II Wah: Morley Steve Vai Bad Horsie 2 Octave: Digitech Drop

I've been listening to Band-maid since the beginning when Saiki was just "good", she blew me away in the is song, fabulous.

Simply Amazing...'nuff said!

We gonna get Without holding back, Youth, or reaction to DragonMaid?

this song gives me chills

This has that mid-2/3rds of the way through an early evening set at an outdoor festival feel about it. Do you remember outdoor festivals?😭

When this show came up for pre order, I was on it. I have to wait until May, but it'll be so owrth it!

Love this song more and more each day... and this live version has taken the place of the studion one in my "Unseen World + Extras" playlist ( I felt the need of having "Different", "Don't be long", "Without Holding Back" AND "About Us" in the same pocket ) You should check out "Daydreaming" as well...

DUDE!!!! 50+ year old headbanger here. This is FIRST time I have been excited about a new band since the 80's. I just got the album BRAND NEW MAID. It is like Boston's first album. There isn't a yawner on it. OMG. They were just 2-3 years old as group. YOU NEED THIS ALBUM. Maybe react to just the music on Spotify or something? It has ALONE and FREEDOM. The rest rocks!!!! You gotta check out LOOK AT ME and continue into ORDER. JUST AWESOME!!!!

Nice touch Champ having the subtitled lyrics.

I don't think Kanami is doing as much tap dancing on her pedals as she's emulating her idol Carlos Santana by rolling her volume knob back for the cleaner sounds and rolling up to max for the bigger parts. Misa is the MVP for this song, to me. This is far and away her best line to date. The way it locks with Akane's drums and weaves through all the other parts without overshadowing them. It truly does hold the song together. Of course all five of them are going all in, and performing their hearts out.

Misa's Bass is humming. It's beautiful.

The live version completely changed the impression for me. It’s so good live.

It's pretty rare to get a song that can both make you choke up or get uplifted

So, we all will meet in Utah? :)

Wow...wasn't expecting this since you did the lyric video. Nice surprise. Not to be "That Guy" but I thought Rinne was going to be your next reaction? But more than happy with this

Run out of words to describe just how good these girls are. I bow very, very low.

LOVE this song so much!

Cool reaction Champ.👍

Kanami's tone during the build up to the chorus made me think of country leads. If her guitar had been totally clean she wouldn't have been out of place in an old time country-western band. And yeah that chorus is just so much more powerful live, and props to stage director and the lighting techs. That change during the chorus where they're lit up so brightly from behind, it's like they're singing to us from heaven.

Great stuff. Hopefully, you can do Kanami, Miku, and Herman Li's jam session from when they were on his Twitch stream. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sEgKgorAmaE.html

I accidentally deleted it, but if you have an original recording, Saiki was struggling hard with her breath support. Maybe just emotional I don't know. Either way I did appreciate the rawness of it. By the time she gets to "Fly More" she seemed to dial it in.

Watching this concert in whole, musically, I was already in my feelings, but the lyrics really hammer it home, on top of the emotion Saiki is wearing on her face. You can tell they're putting their all into these digital shows, but it's not the same as seeing the concert goers faces, and their reactions. The day I get to see them live, will be one of the best days of my life, straight up.

Champ!!!!!!

I’m a drummer and I really love the sound of Akane’s drums in this song! She has such great tone especially the toms and snare. I really enjoy the tom pattern she’s playing also, not complicated, but very nice! I enjoy playing patterns like this myself, they just get you in cool groove. 😎

Kanami apparently has a huge pedal board. For more detail look at the channel "Axe Japan." He has a video on Kamami's gear from a couple years ago.

Sorry, Champ, Kanami will definitely not let you marry Saiki.

Dude! You had me in tears at the end. Move to Utah so you could marry all of them! LOL! Thank you! 🤣

This song is not easy to sing, but every note of saiki is on point , that was amazing!

You're the second person I watched reacting to Band-Maid mention Akane's small kit. It just goes to show it's not the size of your kit, but how you use it.

リアクション待ってました😆

pjl wuz here...... #BandMaid #LeChamp

I love your reaction to the two guitars and chase were on point. He is a dumb dumb

This song gets me every single time.

I have watched so many 'reactions' to Band Maid. With out doubt, they are very talented musicians, but actually sound better live (most RU-vid videos prove this). Another thing....they love each other and have so much fun when playing. There are a lot of interviews on Y/T by Band Maid (also in English) and they are just as amazing as their music videos.

The live version of this song is superb. More emotion, more power, more deep bassline.

you forgot one more comparative description -- more heartfelt.

9:31 You wish, bro.

that ending part though made me laugh

Some backing tracks to enhance things.

Real Existence live? Nice. Can't wait. Have you seen the mv as well? Still waiting on that Daydreaming.

We are maniacs now? 😳

Slaughter To Prevail - Demolisher. I'd be interested in your breakdown of this song. Thanks bro!

I think KANAMI is influenced by progressive metal. But this time she's playing with her favorite Larry Carlton.

6:27 That's what she said... I'm bringing it back

Did you see the audition for the new backup guitar player?

There's a long line at the Mormon temple, Bro.

Has there ever been a greater live performance on bass?

You wouldn't be able to handle them as wives, they would lap you up and spit you out, lol!

Kanami has a monster pedal board with about 12 different effects including - ever cute - one called Horsey. That woman has a lot going on on stage but is always faultless. I love her but she makes me feel inadequate.

This band is ok but, man, there is another band that is greater called Band Maiko, Po! Where Band Maid puts out about 1 album per year, Band Maiko puts out about 1 songs per whenever they feel like it. In fact, be prepared for another possible MV coming out in 25 days, Po! Hatoko (Flappy Pigeon) let it out a bit, during the Dragon Maid TwitchCast with Herman Li, Po! She called it a surprise. Hope its a MV, Po! Must react to this one, Po! > ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sEgKgorAmaE.html&ab_channel=DragonForce, its Herman Li, Miku and Kanami in a jam session, Po! BTW, cries, Po! Great reaction as always, Po!

3:57 Misa-gasm

My five first listening to "about us" were: 1)Meh... 2)They did better songs... 3)Not bad at all. 4)So good! 5)Eargasm!

Utah? Mormon? All of Band-Maid as your wives? Creeeepy... lol As always, appreciate your musician perspective on their music!

So how much backing track is there on this one? Feels more prominent. I love it btw.

That last comment about Utah was super creepy. The only way it could be more creepy is if I said it. Cause I'm so old. Although I would adopt them all as daughters.

Misa is finger picking on this song. Something I've never seen her do.

Misa plays barefoot

It's cello

Misa’s not playing with a pick! Hoping this will be a regular thing!