Tour Dates
09/16/16 Rochester, NY Main Street Armory
09/17/16 Revolution Rock Festival 09/18/16 Rock Allegiance Festival 09/19/16 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE 09/21/16 Cleveland, OH Masonic Auditorium 09/23/16 Memphis, TN Minglewood Hall 09/24/16 Texas Mutiny 09/25/16 Houston Open Air 09/27/16 Tulsa, OK Brady Theater 09/28/16 St. Louis, MO The Pageant 09/30/16 Kansas City, MO Arvest Bank Theatre 10/01/16 JJO Sonic Boom 10/02/16 Louder Than Life Festival 10/03/16 Detroit, MI Fillmore Detroit 10/04/16 Kalamazoo, MI Kalamazoo Theatre 10/05/16 Cedar Rapids, IA Paramount Theatre 10/07/16 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre 10/08/16 Salt Lake City, UT Rockwell 10/09/16 Missoula, MT The Wilma 10/11/16 Calgary, AB MacEwan Hall 10/13/16 Vancouver, BC Vogue Theatre 10/14/16 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre 10/15/16 Eugene, OR McDonald Theatre 10/16/16 Portland, OR Roseland Theater 10/18/16 Riverside, CA Riverside Municipal Aud 10/20/16 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 10/21/16 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 10/22/16 Las Vegas, NV Brooklyn Bowl 10/23/16 Aftershock Festival 10/25/16 Phoenix, AZ Comerica Theatre 10/27/16 Lubbock, TX City Bank Auditorium 10/28/16 San Antonio, TX The Aztec Theatre 10/31/16 Little Rock, AR Metroplex Live 11/02/16 Orlando, FL Hard Rock Cafe 11/03/16 Miami Beach, FL Fillmore Miami Beach 11/04/16 Jacksonville, FL Florida Theatre 11/05/16 Charlotte, NC Fillmore Charlotte 11/07/16 Raleigh, NC The Ritz 11/09/16 Toronto, ON Queen Elizabeth Theatre 11/11/16 Montreal, QC Metropolis 11/12/16 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre Read More
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To random passerbys, it must have seemed that Halloween came early—
The early evening line outside the Myth nightclub in suburban Maplewood stretched and twisted like a snake, with many people in masks and makeup. Not to celebrate any calendar holiday; rather, the coming of Swedish doom metal band, Ghost for a theatrical and melodic appearance, as part of their Black to the Future Tour.
The all-ages show began with a memorable forty-minute set from Chicago’s Macabre, an extreme metal three-piece that has been together making music since 1985. Their self-branded murder metal (also the name of a 2003 album) often centered around particular serial killers, with singer/guitarist Corporate Death (Lance Lencioni)prefacing each song with the gory and sometimes humorous details of what made that killer, so infamous.
Stories of dismemberment, sleeze gore, and habits of the deranged may not have been the most ideal topic for the youngest in the audience, but most was done with at least a partial tongue in cheek and enhanced on a few occasions with dressed up crew members briefly shambling on the stage, to better bring the subject matters, to life.
Musically, the riffs were fast and hard, getting the moshing started in the middle of the floor, with dark lyrics and barking vocals.
After a brief set change and prolonged intro music, a gothic stained glass backdrop, stage platforms, and mysterious lighting brought on the Swedish band, Ghost, for a charging and theatrical ninety-minute set. Singer Papa Emeritus III and his Nameless Ghouls took the stage with absolution, though seemed to be missing (Water) the band’s bassist, on stage this night (though it was hard to notice sonically).
“Minnesota…are you with us?!” Papa asked in a deep Scandinavian accent during the opening ‘Spirit’, dressed in papal garb, complete with mitre headdress, flowing dark robe, and black gloves. The Ghouls were all dressed alike, in dark cardinal suits adorned with symbols and each in full molded horned silver masks missing the mouths, preserving their anonymity.
In promotion of last year’s, Meliora (on Loma Vista Recordings), which cheerily means "the pursuit of something better" in Latin, the audio assault continued with the album’s second track, ‘From the Pinnacle to the Pit’ (the band played seven of Meliora’s ten songs in full) as the mostly younger audience clapped along at Papa’s bidding.
Assuming a leader role immediately, Papa had the crowd responding at will, swinging a thurible (the metal censer suspended from chains) back and forth to fill the room with sweet incense, and even brought a pair of “sisters of sin” on stage, to distribute communion to the faithful pushed up along the front barriers during ‘Body and Blood’ (though he warned the crowd against any “touching” beforehand).
Musically, the band plays a tight and surprisingly melodic blend of dark metal, that sometimes fringes on psychedelic and/or progressive, with predictably dark and ominous lyrics, but is presented in such a palatable way, the effect is anything but depressing or fear-ridden.
After a handful of songs, Papa shed his had-to-be-sweltering papal garb, for a svelte black three-quarter coat and white vest, trading the black gloves for white ones and showing his slick black hair, while maintaining the skeletal face makeup.
‘Cirice’ lived up to its 2016 Grammy award for best metal performance played live, ‘Mummy Dust’ maybe the hardest song of the night, roared with dual-guitar riiffage, and the main set ending 1981 Roky Erickson cover crunched the song with a metal sheen, the Texas singer probably could have never imagined.
The encore chants of “one more song” from the crowd were rewarded with exactly that- a single song to end the night, their usual ending of ‘Monstrance Clock’ from 2013’s Infestissumam. Papa deemed the song the penultimate moment of their set, akin to two people meeting, dating and then culminating their relationship.
The song's choral lyrics of “come together, together as a one” seemed joyous and binding… until you hear the follow-up line, “come together for Lucifer’s son” … and remember again that you’re at a doom metal show-- with sardonic tongue-in-cheek, of course.
Ghost takes a brief break, before heading out again next month on a fall leg, dubbed the Popestar Tour, so know that any facepaint or masks in their crowd are only for band worship, and not any early Halloween.
The early evening line outside the Myth nightclub in suburban Maplewood stretched and twisted like a snake, with many people in masks and makeup. Not to celebrate any calendar holiday; rather, the coming of Swedish doom metal band, Ghost for a theatrical and melodic appearance, as part of their Black to the Future Tour.
Macabre
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Stories of dismemberment, sleeze gore, and habits of the deranged may not have been the most ideal topic for the youngest in the audience, but most was done with at least a partial tongue in cheek and enhanced on a few occasions with dressed up crew members briefly shambling on the stage, to better bring the subject matters, to life.
Musically, the riffs were fast and hard, getting the moshing started in the middle of the floor, with dark lyrics and barking vocals.
Ghost |
“Minnesota…are you with us?!” Papa asked in a deep Scandinavian accent during the opening ‘Spirit’, dressed in papal garb, complete with mitre headdress, flowing dark robe, and black gloves. The Ghouls were all dressed alike, in dark cardinal suits adorned with symbols and each in full molded horned silver masks missing the mouths, preserving their anonymity.
In promotion of last year’s, Meliora (on Loma Vista Recordings), which cheerily means "the pursuit of something better" in Latin, the audio assault continued with the album’s second track, ‘From the Pinnacle to the Pit’ (the band played seven of Meliora’s ten songs in full) as the mostly younger audience clapped along at Papa’s bidding.
Assuming a leader role immediately, Papa had the crowd responding at will, swinging a thurible (the metal censer suspended from chains) back and forth to fill the room with sweet incense, and even brought a pair of “sisters of sin” on stage, to distribute communion to the faithful pushed up along the front barriers during ‘Body and Blood’ (though he warned the crowd against any “touching” beforehand).
Musically, the band plays a tight and surprisingly melodic blend of dark metal, that sometimes fringes on psychedelic and/or progressive, with predictably dark and ominous lyrics, but is presented in such a palatable way, the effect is anything but depressing or fear-ridden.
After a handful of songs, Papa shed his had-to-be-sweltering papal garb, for a svelte black three-quarter coat and white vest, trading the black gloves for white ones and showing his slick black hair, while maintaining the skeletal face makeup.
‘Cirice’ lived up to its 2016 Grammy award for best metal performance played live, ‘Mummy Dust’ maybe the hardest song of the night, roared with dual-guitar riiffage, and the main set ending 1981 Roky Erickson cover crunched the song with a metal sheen, the Texas singer probably could have never imagined.
The encore chants of “one more song” from the crowd were rewarded with exactly that- a single song to end the night, their usual ending of ‘Monstrance Clock’ from 2013’s Infestissumam. Papa deemed the song the penultimate moment of their set, akin to two people meeting, dating and then culminating their relationship.
The song's choral lyrics of “come together, together as a one” seemed joyous and binding… until you hear the follow-up line, “come together for Lucifer’s son” … and remember again that you’re at a doom metal show-- with sardonic tongue-in-cheek, of course.
Ghost takes a brief break, before heading out again next month on a fall leg, dubbed the Popestar Tour, so know that any facepaint or masks in their crowd are only for band worship, and not any early Halloween.
Audience |
Macabre |
Ghost |
Ghost |
Ghost |
Ghost at Myth, Maplewood, MN (28 July 2016) |