[ATTENDED: August 25, 2023] Ghost
My son and I have now seen Ghost 4 times in about 4 years. Interestingly, these previous three times have all been based around their last album, last year’s Impera. My son is rather tickled that he has a short from the Pre-Imperatour, the Imperatour and the Re-Imperatour.
It’s fairly ballsy to tour the same album three times in a year and a half. But in this time their fan base seems to have grown quite a lot.
The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion seats around 25,000 people. I know it didn’t sell out, but I have to assume there were at least 10,000 people there. Which is pretty awesome, and makes Papa Emeritus IV very happy.
The set is largely the same as it has been for each part of the tour, with the stained glass windows in the back and the tiered risers. The Nameless Ghouls were out in force. And it felt like there might be a few more of them than usual.
LIke thre previous two shows, the opening music was classical. Klara stjärnor (Jan Johansson song) and Miserere Mei, Deus (Gregorio Allegri song) before the strains of “Imperium” wafted from behind the giant curtain at the front of the stage.
The curtain came down and Papa strolled out as “Kaisarion” played. And like each show before, it was followed immediately by “Rats.”
Even though I have seen this particular opening, I never get tired of it. The crowd is nuts, the band is on fire, there’s lights and explosions and everyone is singing “RATS!” at the top of their lungs.
I was pleased that the setlist wasn’t exactly the same as the previous tour, as it mixed in with the Pre-Imperatour as well.
Last time they played these songs which didn’t get played this time: “Faith” “Devil Church” “Hunter’s Moon” and “Prime Mover.”
And new from last tour were “From the Pinnacle to the Pit” (also on Pre-tour) ; “Absolution” ; “Kiss the Go-Goat” (Saw both ofthese in 2019) and “Respite on the Spitalfields” which they hadn’t played before at all for us.
So it wasn’t like a unique show with obscure songs. But that is fine because Ghost plays the hits and we all sing along.
And there was something about this show that felt a little more fun. The crowd was great, the band was in fine form and I really really got into it. Maybe it was just the fun of knowing all of these songs so well, but I had a ton of fun at this show.
And mostly, the same things happened like last time. So many costume changes! He wore bat wings, and then papal robes, and finally a shiny blue jacket. Papa even came out in a full black robe, swinging an incense thurible.
I could also see better than the last time when I was on the floor (although that was the only location where I got decent pictures of Papa–it was impossible from where we were this time).
Even though we had just seen them fairly recently I forgot about the fire during Year Zero–one of the great songs of the show. I had also forgotten about the fun that happens during “Miasma,” an instrumental that i don’t really think about very much.
But mid song, Papa Nihil, who died during the final show of the band’s tour in support of Prequelle, was rolled onstage in a glass casket. They brought out the defibrillators and shocked him back to life–at which point he choked his waker until he was handed a saxophone to blow the solo to the song. After the solo, Nihil fell back into his casket and was rolled off stage. I was sure that Papa Nihil was actually Tobias Forge himself, but Tobias came back onstage in a new outfit (the sparkly blue jacket) far too quickly.
The end of the set was not too different from the end of previous shows–just catchy song after catchy song.
“Mary on a Cross” is a TikTok hit and there were lots of little kids there to hear it (!) “Mummy Dust” is super fun because there’s a lot of confetti–not enough blew over our way and I really wanted to try to get a Ghost dollar bill.
After the song, Papa asked us to thank Jesus, which was rather surprising. Until he invited Jesus from New York to come out on stage to use a leaf blower to get rid of the confetti–“Thank you, Jesus.”
They ended the set with a song I didn’t recognize: Respite on the Spitalfields. It’s the last song on the new album and I guess I never really listened to the end all that much. It’s an unusual Ghost song–longer, with a few sections and an epic fell–nowhere near as catchy as their other songs. And I really liked it. I have since listened to it a bunch and think it’s one of their best crafted songs (even if it’s not that catchy).
The lights went out and people chanted for an encore. Papa came out in his red sequin jacket saying that this was his “after show jacket.” He had told one of his ghouls to tell us that the show was over and that we should all fuck off. But Papa decided he would do it himself. He said that the electricity was turned off and there was nothing else they could do. When people complained, he asked how we could shit all over the nice night that we’ve had.
Eventually, he turned to see if the electricity could be turned back on. And it was! He then said he’d do another magic trick and turned his “after dinner jacket” into an “encore jacket.” Did you see the trick?
The band came out to do three more songs.
I was super psyched to hear “Kiss the Go-Goat” again, as they didn’t play it last time.
And then the final two songs–the amazing night closing pair of “Danse Macabre” and “Square Hammer.”
It was so much fun.
I was a little surprised that they didn’t play anything off of their recent EP. Their cover of Iron Maiden’s “Phantom of the Opera” or, more likely, their cover of Genesis’ “Jesus He Knows Me” (which they did play in Europe this summer). But I loved the setlist as it was.
I also noticed that they haven’t played “Monstrance Clock” in the States since 2018 and I hope when they come around next time, that they throw that back into the mix.
| 2023 Re-Imperatour (Freedom Mortgage Pavillion) |
2022 Imperatour (CURE Arena) |
2022 Pre-Imperatour (Prudential Center) |
| TAPE: Imperium ⇑ (these two taped songs also) —–> | TAPE: Klara stjärnor (Jan Johansson song) | TAPE: Imperium ⇑ |
| Kaisarion ⇑ (3) | TAPE: Miserere Mei, Deus (Gregorio Allegri song) | Kaisarion ⇑ |
| Rats ¶ (4) | TAPE: Imperium ⇑ | Rats ¶ (2) |
| From the Pinnacle to the Pit ⊗ (2) | Kaisarion ⇑ (2) | From the Pinnacle to the Pit ⊗ |
| Spillways ⇑ (2) | Rats ¶ (3) | Mary on a Cross ⊕ (2) |
| Cirice ⊗ (4) | Faith ¶ (3) | Devil Church ⊗ (2) |
| Absolution ⊗ (2) | Spillways ⇑ | Cirice ⊗ (2) |
| Ritual € (4) | Devil Church ⊗ (with guitar duel featuring a snippet of “Born To Run” by Bruce Springsteen) (3) | Hunter’s Moon ⇑ |
| Call Me Little Sunshine ⇑ (2) | Cirice ⊗ (3) | Faith ¶ (2) |
| Con Clavi Con Dio € (2) | Hunter’s Moon ⇑ (2) | Helvetesfönster ¶ (2) |
| Watcher in the Sky ⇑ (2) | Ritual € (3) | Year Zero ∞ (2) |
| Year Zero ∞ (4) | Call Me Little Sunshine ⇑ | Ritual € (2) |
| TAPE: Spöksonat (2) | Con Clavi Con Dio € | Mummy Dust ⊗ (2) |
| He Is ⊗ (3) | Prime Mover € | Enter Sandman (Metallica cover) |
| Miasma ¶ (3) | Watcher in the Sky ⇑ | Dance Macabre ¶ (2) |
| Mary on a Cross ⊕ (4) | Year Zero ∞ (3) | Square Hammer ♣ |
| Mummy Dust ⊗ (4) | TAPE: Spöksonat | TAPE: Sorrow in the Wind (Emmylou Harris song) |
| Respite on the Spitalfields ⇑ | He Is ⊗ (2) | |
| encore | Miasma ¶ (2) | |
| Kiss the Go-Goat ⊕ (2) | Mary on a Cross ⊕ (3) | |
| Dance Macabre ¶ (4) | Mummy Dust ⊗ (3) | |
| Square Hammer ♣ (4) | Danse Macabre ¶ (3) | |
| TAPE: Sorrow in the Wind (Emmylou Harris song) | Square Hammer ♣ (3) | |
|
TAPE: Så länge skutan kan gå (Per Myrberg song)
|
TAPE: Sorrow in the Wind (Emmylou Harris song) | |
| 2019 The Ultimate Tour Named Death (CURE Arena) |
||
| TAPE: Klara stjärnor (Jan Johansson song) | ||
| TAPE: Miserere Mei, Deus (Gregorio Allegri song) | ||
| Ashes ¶ | ||
| Rats ¶ | ||
| Absolution ⊗ | ||
| Faith ¶ | ||
| Mary on a Cross ⊕ | ||
| Devil Church [with extended jam] ⊗ | ||
| Cirice ⊗ | ||
| Miasma ¶ | ||
| Ghuleh/Zombie Queen ∞ | ||
| Helvetesfönster [partial] ¶ | ||
| Spirit ⊗ | ||
| From the Pinnacle to the Pit ⊗ | ||
| Ritual € | ||
| Satan Prayer € | ||
| Year Zero ∞ | ||
| TAPE: Spöksonat | ||
| He Is ⊗ | ||
| Mummy Dust ⊗ | ||
| Kiss the Go-Goat ⊕ | ||
| Dance Macabre ¶ | ||
| encore | ||
| Square Hammer ♣ | ||
| TAPE: Sorrow in the Wind (Emmylou Harris song) |
⇑ Impera (2022)
⊕ Kiss the Go-Goat EP (2019)
♣ Popestar EP (2016)
¶ Prequelle (2018)
⊗ Meliora (2015)
∞ Infestissumam (2013)
€ Opus Eponymous (2010)
And some nice soul (Jim Powers) has posted the whole show here
And some high tech soul (yupsure) has posted the whole show in HD
I Just Read About That... 
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