Europe has a new Japanese music festival, with a focus on idol music. The festival, Monster of Dolls, will take place on Saturday 11 May at Giostrà Music Arena in the city of Bologna.
The idea to organise the festival started from the Italian community with the same name as the festival. This community had a goal to inform the audience about idol culture and to invite idol groups to Italy for performances. It was decided to organise the type of idol festivals that are known in Japan. The first edition will give the stage to three idol groups from Japan and four Italian idol groups with that a DJ will maintain the atmosphere. The three idol groups from that are announced and will perform for the first time in Europe are LADYBABY, MELON BATAKE A GO GO and JYUJYU. Furthermore, ex-NECRONOMIDOL singer Sari has been invited as a special guest for this festival. Eriko, known for her work in K-ble Jungle, will be talking through the evening as an MC.
LADYBABY
The in 2015 formed group, started out with Rei Kuromiya, Rie Kaneko and Ladybeard with their first track and music video Nippon Manju, which went viral on YouTube. After the withdrawal of Ladybeard in 2016, the group rebranded itself by going with the new name The Idol Formerly Known as Ladybaby, but it was decided in the beginning of 2018 to go back to the original moniker LADYBABY. Rei Kuromiya left the group in November 2017. In the Spring of 2018 LADYBABY continued with three new group members next to Rie Kaneko: Nana Ikeda, Emily Arima and Fuka Karasawa.
MELON BATAKE A GO GO
The genres MELON BATAKE A GO GO (めろん畑a go go) work with are rockabilly, psychobilly and garage. The idol group is active since 2016 and consists of Nakamura Soze, Rutakame Run, Rukatama, and Sakimura Yuffie. The girls are clothed as superheroes, wearing a mask and cape, the concept of the group is ‘The Idol From Outer Space’. In January, the group released their first album IKASUZE IDOL 1.2.3 !!, which is also their major label debut.
JYUJYU
JYUJYU (じゅじゅ) started in 2014 and consists at this moment of four members: Neu, Miori, Yurane and Chun. The absurdity of the world, jealousy, envy and the darkness of the internet is expressed in the music and videos of JYUJYU. In February of 2018, the idol group released their first mini-album Jyujyu.
Tickets
The festival is not only organised for the Italian fans of idol music, but for those living in Europe with an interest in (alt) idol music. The event will start from 15.00 till the end of the day and is also filled with a dinner with the idol groups, for those who bought the special tickets.
There are Light and Standard tickets, VIP tickets and Dinner Idol tickets. With light and regular tickets, you can have access to the festival, but you have a certain place where you stand. With the VIP ticket, you have early access, you will receive a t-shirt and join the Dinner Idol, where you sit at the central table with the idols during dinner. If you are only interested in the Dinner Idol and show, then you can buy the cheaper ticket where you will not get early access and a t-shirt, but you will be able to join the Dinner Idol, where you sit at a table near the idols during dinner. At the festival, there will be a possibility to buy merchandise and cheki of the idol groups, in addition, there is a Meet and Greet with the idols, this is open for everyone. VIP ticket buyers will have a priority on the Meet and Greet with the idol groups.
Source: Monster of Dolls
