21-02-2016 Ghost

[schema type=”event” evtype=”MusicEvent” name=”Ghost” description=”Support : Dead Soul” sdate=”2016-02-21″ stime=”08:00 pm” edate=”2016-02-21″ street=”Kulturzentrum Schlachthof” city=”Bremen” country=”DE” ]

A rainy Sunday evening in Bremen and the first time for Ghost in Bremen.. The band has become more and more popular with the latest release “Meliora” (2015) and just this month, they have won an award for “Best Metal Performance” in the GRAMMYs… So going to a gig after all these events had a special meaning for the Ghost fans! The venue was packed and it was easy to recognize the die-hard Ghost fans in the first rows.Even before Ghost’s appearance on stage, the ‘soothing’ church music could be heard during soundcheck. This lifted the overall excitement and anticipation even higher… and when it was time, ‘the nameless ghouls’ appeared one by one followed by the vocalist/main man Papa Emeritus III.

One thing is certain; the show that the band delivers is beyond spectacular. It’s not only about the costumes or the setup but there’s something evil in those ‘non-metal’ and proggy vocals, heavy metal riffs and the dark/poppy synths. It was also interesting to see that all the band members were shining somehow; one might think that Ghost is all about Papa Emeritus but the ghouls were definitely the favorites of some fans! Papa also introduced each ghoul during “If You Have Ghosts” and told funny stories about bass players (and why girls love bass players) and guitarists.

There were definitely too many highlights but one of them that’s typical of Ghost performances is definitely the band’s interaction with the audience. Almost after each song, Papa chatted with the audience and even made jokes about German culture; some talks about “Kartoffel (Potato)”, “German beer”, “Schnitzel” and “now join me in this song with that funny german accent” took place which led to laughters and cheers from the audience. The audience was also really energetic and motivated considering it was a Sunday evening. I could see many people singing along to almost all of the songs so there was definitely satisfaction from both sides.

There were also many favorites from the setlist; “Cirice” , “From The Pinnacle To The Pit”, “Ritual”, “Ghuleh/Zombie Queen” and of course everyone’s favorites “Year Zero” and the closing song “Monstrance Clock”, -which, according to Papa, is all about the ‘female orgasm’- were the songs which were sung even louder. It was definitely an evil night for us and for the band, who played in Bremen for the very first time!

Links:
Ghost Official
Ghost Facebook