Red Hot Chili Peppers' Chad Smith drums with Babymetal

A pcture of Babymetal with Chad Smith
Babymetal with Chad Smith

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith performed with Babymetal at their weekend show in London.

The Japanese trio supported Red Hot Chili Peppers on their UK tour and at lats night’s (December 18) gig at the O2 Arena, Smith performed a drum solo as part of Babymetal’s set.

After a performance of Gimme Chocolate, Babymetal exited the stage and the arena was plunged into darkness – which was when Smith slipped unnoticed onto the stage and behind the kit, replacing Hideki Aoyama and performing a solo disguised as a member of the Kami Band wearing corpse paint and white clothing.

Babymetal then closed their set with Smith playing on their Judas Priest medley of Painkiller and Breaking The Law.

Then at the very end of Babymetal’s set, Smith reappeared with a birthday cake for Su-Metal, who turns 19 on December 20 – with the audience singing Happy Birthday.

Babymetal were recently confirmed as support for Metallica on their upcoming show in Seoul, South Korea, on January 11. They will also guest with Guns N’ Roses on their five Japanese dates in January.

Babymetal tour dates 2017

Jan 11: Seoul Gocheok Sky Dome, South Korea
Jan 21: Osaka Kyocera Dome, Japan (with Guns N’ Roses)
Jan 22: Kobe World Memorial Hall, Japan (with Guns N’ Roses)
Jan 25: Yokohama Arena, Japan (with Guns N’ Roses)
Jan 28: Tokyo Saitama Super Arena, Japan (with Guns N’ Roses)
Jan 29: Tokyo Saitama Super Arena, Japan (with Guns N’ Roses)

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Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.