Ghost are already tearing a ragged hole through American society, which was clearly their intention all along.
The hip kids may have dismissed them as Satanic soft rock, but if tonight’s packed-to-the-rafters turnout is any indication, Ghost’s campaign to keep music evil is spreading like wildfire among the heavy metal ham n’ eggers.
After a mopey opening set from London occult rockers Purson, Ghost make their exquisitely grand entrance. The faceless, nameless ghouls now sport shiny black devil masks and prowl a multi-level stage set up to look like a peek into a most profane cathedral. All the hits are on hand – Spirit, From The Pinnacle To The Pit, Year Zero, Body And Blood, Majesty, Cirice – buttressed by Papa’s ghoulish stand-up comedy. You really haven’t lived until you’ve heard a Swedish guy who’s wearing skull make-up doing a bad Italian accent in English, hitting on the girls in the front row.
The band blow the intro to Prime Mover and have to start over, but otherwise, this show is an absolute sizzler. It all ends with a jovial singalong of Monstrance Clock, the entire theatre gleefully throwing the devil horns and hailing Satan in the strangest display of warmth and unity I think I’ve ever seen.
If tonight is any indication, then AC/DC were right all along – hell really ain’t a bad place to be.
