LIVE FROM THE PIT: HANABIE. and Lake Malice

Hallo-weekend in Manchester was underway with the second stop of the European leg of HANABIE.’s 2025 world tour, accompanied by LAKE MALICE for the UK portion. An emerging powerhouse of metalcore, HANABIE., played their first English show to a sold out crowd in the Manchester Academy 2 with all the vigour of a band hitting their stride. 

Entry into the Manchester Academy 2 proved a little confusing as there was an Emofest taking place next door, resulting in a mixture of the queues. For those that were in the right building, there was one thing on the mind - merchandise. The queue lines for the t-shirts, caps and photocards stretched the length of the venue for almost the whole evening, and for a good reason; not only were the t-shirts beautifully designed, HANABIE. had also introduced a Gacha machine on this date of the tour where for only £5 fans could get stickers, magnets, pins, and some mystery extra prizes written on the back of the leaflets.

Inside the Academy 2 the support act LAKE MALICE burst on stage with a scream, starting with a high energy performance they maintained for their whole fourty-minute long set. ALICE GUALA was the first of the remarkable show-women to entertain Manchester on Saturday and warmed up the crowd perfectly from respectful headbanging, to the pit opening for the first time around fifteen minutes into the set; not to say there was no LAKE MALICE fans in the crowd, a look around to the left and there was a pair who had cleared enough space for themselves to dance, and by the time Scatterbrain hit its pre-breakdown, the rest of the room was clapping along on their own. 

The highlight of LAKE MALICE’s set was saved until the end, when guitarist BLAKE CORNWALL entered the circle-pit and managed to only fall to the ground when he chose to kneel down and play, although he has mastered this trick since the group formed in 2021. Right after they played the song Stop The Party, which saw BLAKE stealing their drummer’s floor tom to help out with the final chorus, and by their last two songs the crowd was electrified.

Half an hour later it was time for the main event, where frontwoman YUKINA’s presence was a dominating force. Skipping onto the stage in layered pink and leopard prints, the sweetness left as soon as the first notes rang out, replaced by a fierce stance to fill the time before her gravelly screams spread around the Manchester Academy 2. That is not to say the sweetness was completely dissipated; before latest single Spicy Queen, the bassist HETTSU let Manchester know via A1 papers that she had lost her voice because of an eight hour phone call with YUKINA, that was met with pantomime-style “awhs” and “hays” from the crowd. While performing the song, YUKINA donned a headband with a chilli pepper on and danced with a spicy sauce squishmallow during the chaotic hyper-metal breakdowns, while the first pit of the set opened in the middle of the floor.

The setlist was a balanced mix of the old and new songs, with all tracks from latest EP Buccigirl Tokyo spaced out between an even mix of Reborn Superstar and Girls Reform Manifest. As the set hit its stride, YUKINA asked what Manchester loved - sweets, was the answer, as the whole room head-banged, hinting at one of their hit songs. At the midpoint, the jokes set in: from YUKINA downing a Guinness at the beginning of Kotoshi Koso Gal ~Shoka ver.~  and getting the crowd to scream “what the fuck”, to YUKINA reminiscing about the things they loved on their first visit to Manchester - Buckfast and Satan’s Hollow to start, with the fans chanting “down it” at the mention of the first one, to discovering the infamous Jet2 Holiday meme before the end of the set, recited with passion by the fans before launching into LOVE Ranbu. YUKINA did not stop moving and interacting for the entirety of the set, not only whilst leading the crowd with claps and fist pumps, but also while dancing behind MATSURI during her clean vocal segments. 

The energy calmed down in the second act but came back for the final tracks, with Tosou and Pardon Me I Have to Go Now bringing it round enough to gain an encore from the Academy 2 in the form of Ghost Mania and Sentimental Heroine from Girls Reform Manifest. This section saw the crowdsurfers take their chance and the last two steps of the evening taken, while the grins of the members of HANABIE. were from ear to ear. 

HANABIE.’s second stop on the UK/EU leg of their world tour was a perfect evening of performers who had all aspects of their craft perfected - YUKINA and ALICE have their vocals and ability to work the crowd down to a science. The joy of being on tour was clear for both bands and it filled the room, giving the crowd the energy they needed to start off their Saturday night. The opportunity to see HANABIE. on their first full UK tour was a dream; lucky are the few to catch them on this run. 

Words: Julia Brunton

Photos: Libby Percival