BAND-MAID / Play (Official Live Video) MUSICIAN REACTS!! 

OKAY! I’ve heard a few Band-Maid songs already and I’m curious, what is everyone’s TOP 5 BM songs right now??

Band-Maid is what happens while you are expecting what lesser bands would do. Working my way through your Band-Maid playlist. My top 5 are not on it (yet) and you have several that I have not heard, so I het to 'join you' for a first listen. Such a wide range and it all brings a smile to your face.

The Maids are making the song for their fans, period. They spend time to entertain audiences, not to show off themselves at all. There is no ego in this band, that's what we Maidiacs love them so much. Peace.

My top 5 Band-Maid songs are Blooming MV, Don’t You Tell Me live version, Take Me Higher live version, Warning MV, and Secret My Lips. So many more great songs also I could have added, they are all great songs in their catalog.

If you want to know who Band-Maid make their music for then check out About Us. It was written at the height of the pandemic. It is a love letter from the band to the fans.

Best five songs are last 5 songs you heard from them. Seriously 😄. In the spirit of not repeating, here are 5 other songs you need to check. Puzzle Choose me Catharsis Alone Moratorium 🤘🤘🤘

Hi Jules! I’m really enjoying your Band-Maid videos! I’ll check out some of your others, too. If you don’t know much 60’s & 70’s rock, I’d love to see you check that out - The Beatles, Cream, Led Zeppelin, CSN/CSN&Y, The Who, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and particularly Yes & Rush - I’m sure you’d enjoy a lot of this formative rock music, if you aren’t familiar with it, already. Also, it’s probably a good time for you to learn the Band-Maid members names (it’s easy): Band-Maid Members - [ ] Miku (ME-coo) - Rhythm Guitar, Second Vocals - [ ] Misa (ME-sah) - Bass - [ ] Akane (ah-CON-nay) - Drums - [ ] Kanami (Kah-NAM-e) - Lead Guitar - [ ] Saiki (Psyche) - Lead Vocals Some recommendations: - Wonderland - official live video (beautiful vocals & instrumentation) - About Us - official live video (more beauty) - Don’t Tell Me - live video (guitar/bass battle) - Puzzle - live AND live acoustic - Glory - Bubble Have you done “Blooming” - just wow 😮 And then you need to do “Band-Maiko” - Secret My Lips/Secret Maiko Lips - (twofer back to back) 😂🔥 - Goin-Cho - very different And go back to their beginnings: - Thrill - official MV - Real Existence - official MV & official live video (twofer) - Don’t Let Me Down - official MV - Alone - official MV (1st fully developed song by the band - the rest is history)

I hoep you'll do the MV for Blooming. For me it's BAND-MAID encapsulated, a little genre blending, some old school sensibilities with modern pace, and Kanami's lead gets to stand out for a change.

They change things up constantly, and I suspect it's for both them and us, because if you follow their stuff chronologically, the difficulty level just keeps shooting up. They have spoken often about wanting to keep getting better, both individually and collectively. One of the things that make them so great is that they can appeal to both the discerning musician and the casual listener. Some examples of musical tricks that the employ a LOT are: - Instrumental parts are almost NEVER the same for the 2nd verse as the first. - Song structure is very often unconventional, with pre-choruses, post-choruses, random 180 degree genre changes that throw you off at first and then you love it, etc. - added beats for effect - like a beat of silence where you expect the downbeat to be, faking you out and them slamming into you one second later - putting the melody in the bass line while the other members do other stuff - lead guitar parts that are extraordinarily complex, barely audible and underneath the singer during a verse, and also constantly changing - very dense composition, where there is so much going on that you keep hearing stuff you've never heard before after tons of listens These are just a few that you'll notice very often, and how often do you see this in songs that are catchy as hell? These ladies word hard and they don't stop, and Kanami is like a mad scientist when she writes songs. Band Maid is awesome.

Band-Maid has mentioned that they do not like to play things on repeat. They like to change it to keep it more interesting as well for the audience. Personally, I feel that Band-Maid's songs are more alive than just the regular song you hear on the radio. Even when I re-listen to their older songs, I am always surprised by the little details that I missed before. And I appreciate the amount of work that Band-Maid put in creating songs.

The Maids refuse, to be cookie cutter, to do the easy......it why we love them & never tire of listening to them !! ❤🎙🎸🥁😎👌

Their trademark is to make the music interesting and complex. They constantly change things within a song. There are many layers to what they do. Also, when the pigeon tells you to "Sing!", if you're in the audience, you sing! Aside from the interviews, look up Miku's Magic Spell Time.

I have no idea who they are doing these extreme arrangements for, but I'm going to assume it's for me :) The thing is, it increases the replay-ability by a lot because, when I listen, it's hard to remember from the last time exactly how the song goes. It stays fresh each time somehow. Incredible talent.

Moratorium, Puzzle, Turn Me On, Take me Higher, and Don't you Tell Me, all live of course. Great channel Jules!!!

"Who does that" ??? Band-Maid does that , every thing this band does is for their fans. "Welcome home Masters & Princesses" is not something they left behind years ago. No ego's is what makes them unlike any other band, Band - Maid is in their element when they are performing for the fans and not for themselves. Best band on the planet and the best fans .... po 🕊

Thanks. I learn a lot. Helps me enjoy their music even more.

There are a ton of great suggestions already. And depending on the day they'd be in my top 5 as well. Here's my top 5 that havent' been suggested, yet: H-G-K, Don't Be Long, Secret Maiko Lips, Gion-cho, Dilemma

Found your channel about 2 hours ago. Watched all your Band Maid reactions. Plus Love Bites. Awesome job! Seeing the Maids Washington DC October 25th. Original 11 shows sold out. Added 2 shows today. Chicago and Jersey. Get a ticket brother! Believe it or not there is a dozen awesome Japanese girl band's. The maids are my favorite but they're all awesome. Keep reacting brother I'll keep watching! Rock On!😊😎🤘🤘🤘

Band-Maid make their songs for their fans and for themselves. For their fans, because they want to create a positive experience and feeling, and re-listenable songs. For themselves because they want to grow as musicians. In their latest album they moved the bar so far that they couldn't initially play the songs, but had to practice hard to be able to. All just to grow as musicians, because stagnation is their greatest enemy. Their latest single, Sense, contains my favorite song, Corallium. It is in my opinion peak Band-Maid, because despite the monster of their latest album, Unseen World, they managed to move the bar yet again. The vocal harmonies on that track is one of the best I have heard ever.

You have to checkout their song "Onset"; it is one of their live instrumental songs

My favourites for now are Matchless gum, Unfair game, Hibana, Puzzle, Moratorium, Anemone, Daydreaming. Recommend.

For me its probably: 1. Blooming (music vid) - adore this one. 2. Onset - official live instrumental 3. Without Holding Back - instrumental (think bilibili is the only place to find this one) 4. Moratorium - live 5. Rinne - music vid. Actually some of the songs you've already reacted too would bump some of these. This is more of a wish list for future reactions. LOL Loving your reactions.

It's Kanami (lead guitar/composer) who always challenge other Maids. Then other Maids always surpass Kanami's expectation. A good example is "Black Hole" (you already reacted to this song) . This is the fastest song of Band-Maid at 220 bpm. For this song, Akane (drummer) made 4-5 different drumming demos, from easy mode to the hardest hell mode, and asked other Maids "which one you like?" Naturally all Maids said "the hell mode!" Akane told other Maids "I can probably perform at the hell mode in our live concert if I practice a lot"🍌🥁🦍🥁🍌

Great reaction. When it comes to BAND-MAID and their main composer, Kanami, simple is too boring for them, and all of them believe they should challenge themselves for every song they released, their mindset is if they get better, they can make better songs, and better songs pleases their fans plus they can feel achieved out of it. They care a lot for their fans and they also care about each other. It's a mindset of the Japanese called "Kaizen" since ancient times, it means to improve yourself gradually for every step you take. On the other hand, Kanami is just a mad scientist composer. She's a music geek to the bone and is an avid classical music lover. All BAND-MAID songs evolve as the song progresses (despite having a formula, but also works). MISA basically uses the neck from top to bottom, Akane likes to change tempo for every 2 bars at least, Saiki is a versatile vocalist that can sing anything, Miku is a grown above average rhythm guitarist even though she had no guitar skills when the band started, and Kanami just do whatever she wants as long it serves the song and keep it interesting. ^^ Welcome to the Pigeon hole, where there is no fill or throw away songs. xD

This song was originally going to be an instrumental, but Saiki liked it so much she asked Miku to write lyrics for it. The intro here was just for this section of the tour. The 2017 Studio Coast version has a more funky intro, and the 2018 Zepp Tokyo version has no added intro.

In case you haven't seen... Band-Maid has a video up on their channel about news on the concerts and a CD release. See their official channel for details.

That's BAND-MAID doing BAND-MAID things .

Great reaction as always!! They make their song very interesting for the FANS and also for themselves!!! Nobody can guess where the songs are going!!!😂Thanx always for reacting to our favorite bands. Cheers from Tokyo!! Peace!

Hi Jules...great again. My comment is that they consider the crowd like the sixth member in this band. They consider, also, the crowd as part of the composition and Miku is the pyrotechnic master catalyzing the audience. At the same time they use the intangibles like perception, anticipation, expectations, micro silences, audience adrenaline, vocal inflexions from Saiki or Miku, etc...and this is the key factor between MVs and live performances. Basically their music is organic, a kind of biological rock, and therefore full of life. Each song is a living being and if we love life that means that we love BAND MAID live.

Yes.....Kanami (lead guitar) is a compositional genius, as well as her ability to arrange.....Miku (rythm guitar) the founder and chief spokespigeon of the band, backs her up with pertinent and uplifting lyrics.....together with Misa's next level bass licks.....Akane's thunderous and syncopated drum beats......Saiki's penetrating and soothing vocals.....Miku holds it all together with her rythm guitar, so Kanami can layer her riff magic in with it all.....quite the team.....you'll enjoy the interviews man......my 5 favorite Band-Maid tunes are the last 5 I've listened to.....there simply are no duds.....nice work Jules.....keep it up

Kanami (Lead Guitar/Music) Is always pushing them as musicians. During lockdown she composed the most difficult music so far for the Unseen World album. For which they all had to practice harder to accomplish her vision of the songs. Many songs on that album are completely mind blowing.

I’m going to go see them in concert this year in Seattle

You've hit the nail on the head. They way they construct songs is something every fan loves, and musicians new to them pick up on immediately. My take: (and mind you, this is only what I've gleaned - mostly from the comment sections so shouldn't be taken as definitive) - Music education is compulsory in the Japanese public school system and would almost certainly include western classical music, so the concept of "theme and variations" is something they've all learned at some point. (I'm completely unfamiliar with classical Japanese music so hasten to add that it may well exist there too) Add to that the fact that the drummer, Akane, and bassist, MISA, further studied at the Tokyo Music Academy, where, I understand, they both "majored" in jazz. I'm really enjoying your reaction/breakdown videos on my new favourite band. You're doing a fine job. Very informative and entertaining. There's a running gag among fans that your favourite song is the one you're listening to at the moment (you'll see - they're all so good) but mine are the ones that feature the vocalist with minimal effects added, like Play, for instance or most of the live performances, really. I'm a sucker for it and a slave to her. As brilliant as all the rest of them are, and as much as I love them all and what they do, she shines just a tiny bit brighter. For me.

Not sure if you noticed but at the end of Play, they go right into Domination. This was also song #21 on a 23 song set list. So they were still full of energy and tearing it up for the fans all the way to the end of the show.

Not only not the same song twice but the beginning of this is a concert only intro. There's another concert recording from a few years ago that has another bass solo leading in. From just before Saiki calls out is the actual song. This was the second or third song I had first heard from them. I think I was already a Maidiac by then lol. But that heavy bass and drums just pulled me in! I think they just like a challenge. They've said in interviews how they like to do new things to push themselves. Akane programs drums and then makes herself match it! I love how each of their songs is different. I love AC/DC but man, the new songs sound like AC/DC from years ago. That's good and bad to me. I want new that still sounds AC/DC.

This is the first song by Band-Maid I'd ever heard. RU-vid threw it up in my sidebar for some reason and I clicked on it. Happily hooked before the first minute was over. Top 5 is tough but here's a try. Puzzle (both Studio Coast and Zepp versions) Matchless Gum, Awkward (from Studio Coast), Daydreaming and YOLO MVs. Of course that is just now and there are dozens that would be included as "top" if I just listen to them again right now. As has been said many times, your favorite Band-Maid song is the one you just listened to.

Great reaction Jules!

Throughout the whole video, you can see the various maids go up to the drummer to try and make her make mistakes. Akane, the drummer, then does her best to make the other maids screw up. Top 5 are always the last 5 songs I heard, which is the second half of Unseen World. I recommend either Blooming or Warning MVs next.

I think they just hate repeating themselves. Both on a song-to-song scale, as well as within a song. Choruses are never the same - similar, sure, but never just a repeat. This is not entirely unique to BM of course, but they have really stuck to the idea across their lifetime as a band so far. Which is impressive, considering the sheer amount of music they've managed to produce in ~8 years. Top 5 BM songs? Damn, impossible to say. Depends on what day it is 🙃 On this particular day, I love, in roughly descending order: 1. Alone (MV. Their first self-written piece) 2. Manners (MV) 3. Blooming (MV. holy crap) 4. Daydreaming (MV!) 5. Onset (Live instrumental, it's fire) Honorable mentions (of the day): * Warning! (MV) * About Us

Miku (5') and Kanami (5'1") are tiny dynamite to offset MISA (5'8") and Akane (5'6") and Saiki (5'4").

They do the some of the songs twice as a band called "BAND MAIKO"

I think you'll really like Sense. It has that intricate, purposeful, busyness like Black Hole, but it's still very melodic. One of my favorites right now. I think you'll also like Bubble, Warning, Blooming and Rinne because each one emphasizes different styles while still sounding like Band-Maid. For a relatively young band, their catalog is absolutely loaded with great, diverse music, and the deeper you go, the more your mind is blown. It's taken me about 3 years to come to terms with the fact that they're the best band I've ever heard.

I recommend "Onset" and "Don't you tell me"

This song is pretty straightforward as Band-Maid songs go. It seems it started as an instrumental and Saiki thought they were having too much fun without her, so she and Kobato wrote lyrics for it. There have been a number of different intros in their live performances - this is just the latest iteration. Maybe when they tour the U.S. in October they'll have another intro, and it will be fantastic. There was a reddit poll a couple of years ago, and this business about "there are no favorites" took this form; out of 100 songs or so at the time, the top vote-getter had something like 7.5%. There was no clear favorite. You're getting a fairly good spread in these comments. Some of *my* favorites are really just the ones I heard first so they are special to me; Dice, Blooming, Choose Me, Alone, Moratorium. But those aren't really the "top five", they're just favorites. In their early days they worked with several composers and arrangers. Shinichiro Yamashita wrote "Brand-New Road" for them (on the Brand New Maid EP) and they play it really well. It swings. There's a great jazz walking bass line in the breakdown. It's really hip. Kentarō Akutsu wrote a number of songs with them, including the first track on their first EP "Be OK" and the first track on "New Beginning" which became their breakout music video "Thrill". He also wrote "Fate" on World Domination and "Smile" which is the B-side of the "Bubble" single. Any of those could be "top five." After working with other composers and arrangers, they started writing their own songs (and by that, I think I mean Kanami wrote the songs and Akane and MISA contributed; the music is always credited to "Band-Maid"). "Alone" is the first of theirs to appear (last track on Brand New Maid), and it is amazing in the way that it sprang fully-formed from the brow of Zeus. Immediately after that they put out a single "YOLO" with two B-sides "Unfair Game" and "Matchless GUM" and those three confirmed that "Alone" was not a fluke. Any of those four should be in the "top five". The most current album (from January 2021) is Unseen World, and there are quite a few really REALLY impressive songs on that album. You've heard "Manners" but there are several others that are on the playlist on their channel but don't have music videos: "Giovanni", "H-G-K", "Sayonakidori", "Honkai" (those are the frenetic ones) or "Chemical Reaction" and "Why Why Why" for more classic rock, "Warning!" and "After-Life" have music videos and might be more on the punk side, along with "I Still Seek Revenge." Any of those could be "top five". Other than piano, Kanami didn't attend a conservatory or anything (she has a degree in Economics, a request by her parents if I understand correctly) but she's obviously absorbed quite a lot of classical composition techniques. The band will state a theme and then develop it just like Haydn or Mozart or Beethoven would do (maybe not as elaborately; they state riffs rather than 16 bar themes, and they seem to limit themselves to 3 1/2 or 4 minutes per song). They do seem like they get bored easily, though; "Nah, been there, done that. Let's do something else this time."

This is an additional instrumental intro going to play and its only in live. But its not present on the recorded album world domination

This song is what got me into Band-Maid, but it was the live at Studio Coast 2017 video back when it was on RU-vid. If you want to listen to a concert that was mixed amazingly you should try videos from that concert and the Zepp Tokyo concert in 2018.

This is an instrumental with an added vocal part. Saiki liked the music and wanted to sing. But it still has an instrumental feel -- the long instrumental opening, for example. Did you notice the drummer pulling faces at the singer, who was smiling so much you could hear the laugh in her voice?

My favorites are Turn Me On, BLOOMING, MORATORIUM, Cross and After Life

You should check out puzzle. It's even crazier

Miku (red rose, rhythm guitar) didn't play guitar until she formed the band and stepped down as lead singer. someone else can give you more details.

BAND-MAID is for music lovers and we love them PO! FAV, the one I am listening too.

BE MORE EXISTENT! You tend to talk over Miku’s vocals. That is not allowed. When are you going to learn their names? Did you buy tickets for their October tour yet? I can’t pick only five favorite BAND-MAID songs. Five songs you should listen to next are: 1. No God (live) 2. Blooming (MV) 3. Wonderland (Live) 4. Moratorium (Live) 5. The Non-Fiction Days (MV) And you still haven’t seen the MV that started it all: Thrill (before you watch the recent live one)

They work hard to please us, Po!

Kanami, lead guitar and songwriter, doesn't like simple. And sorry, I have several dozen top five BM songs. Right now my fave is Without Holding Back and I just discovered it in a reaction the other day.

MISA!!! MISA!!! MISA!!! 🥃🥃🥃

Hola Jules, suggestions to a song or two would be "don't you tell me" live at zepp tokyo.. "Matchless gum" if you can find it.. Or "turn me on" live at zepp tokyo... And else, keep up the good content, i really like the way you explain, and break down the song in a understandble way.. And just for fun, it cold be fun putting on a heavy Misa driven song, and let your dad, that from what i understand playes bass, and see what he thinks of her.. But i do understand if you dont want to, if he is as u say a known guy, since this is your project and dont want him involved in it.. 👍 🤘

We need to invent new superlatives to describe Band-Maid. Drummerific. Singtastic. or something.

MISA MISA MISA!

I like more old live version of Play. Intro was so cool.

Pay attention at 7:26 between Akane (drums) and Saiki (singer) trying to make each other laugh. Akane wins.

No Band Maid doesn't make the same song twice, all their songs are the same i.e Farkin Awesome ! right time for a beer and more Band Maid, peace and love Po 👍🎼🥁🎤🎸🍻

You're not wrong about the variation. They like to be catchy and hookey and sing-along even, pop is not anathema in any way. But they are also clearly determined to try to avoid becoming formulaic. Kanami (who writes the bulk of the music) and Akane on drums have both talked about not wanting to write music by jamming - because if they jam they will more or less automatically resort to certain stock-phrases, set pieces, and that way lies formulaic song-writing. And the way they talk about it, the whole band is kinda competitive. They "don't like to lose" as Miku has put it. Sometimes they make it so difficult members groan over how to pull things off live - Misa keeps making traps for herself like that, so the rest of the girls go: "Well, you wrote that baseline, you solve it girl." And then she does. :)

Very difficult to pick a top 5,maybe a top 20 would be a little easier,,but here are my 5,1 Unfair Game 2 İ cant live without you 3 Bubble 4 Puzzle accoustic and electric 5 Awkward,,,this list will change daily.

People rag on the mix from this concert (and yes Kanami's guitar is too low at times) but the drums, bass and backing vocals are more audible. Saiki is much better in this entire concert and throws in additional ad libs (to engage with the audience) and vocal fry that she doesn't in other concert recordings. Plus the audience is much more audible giving it a "being at the concert" feel. Enjoyed your reaction as always!

I like your reactions. You catch stuff on a first listen that most do not. There are two songs I would like to see your reaction to: Moratorium - for changes throughout the song. It is not on their official channel though, so... YOLO - for interplay between instruments (Guitar, Bass, Vocal) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wKZbzcUdY1g.html

It's sad about Kyojuro, if any one can bring him back it's BAND-MAID ;)

This gig at Line Cube Shibuya 2020 is great, but personally is my least favorite of their four live DVDs... I prefer their show at Studio Coast Shinkiba 2017, or the one at Zepp Tokyo 2018, or even their really short show at Akasaka Blitz 2017.😎

Dude! Get a good pair of closed back headphones. You're missing so much! This isn't even the best version of 'Play!' LIVE. And yes, the other version sounds totally different. If you're not too adverse to visiting Chinese websites, go to Bilibili and check out the 2nd song of the Zepp Tokyo LIVE concert and watch it. If you really want to see something the 9th song is the Call & Response "Battle" Between Kanami & MISA>

I was running about in the streets shouting "BAND-MAID are awesome". And there were other people running about in the streets shouting "Look at that guy running about in the streets shouting BAND-MAID are awesome". Did i mention how awesome BAND-MAID are yet.🤔

What happened to your black nails with the white B-M bow you promised Jules? Shocking behaviour.🤷‍♂️

I am not sure what kind of music education you have but your comments does not sit right with me ,more or less you are reacting on what you see and not what you hear ,makes me think that you have limited if any knowledge about music and if that is not the case then react in a better way not in a pretend way to get subscribers on hard work of other artist . Plus as a respect to real Band Maid you should be having their original link in description as you are reacting and not making anything on your own