Ghost - Live at The SSE Arena, Wembley
Tobias Forge as Cardinal Copia.
Ghost play live at The SSE Arena, Wembley.
© Copyright Stewart Marsden
If you’re unfamiliar with Ghost, I should probably explain both who and what they are.
Ghost is a multi-award-winning rock/metal band from Linköping, Sweden, formed in 2006. Their awards include three Grammis Awards in their native Sweden, as well as a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. They also have a number of other awards under their belt, such as Best Breakthrough Band at the Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards, and Best Bassist, Best Metal Album and Best Metal Video at the Loudwire Music Awards. Their song “Ritual” was chosen by Kerrang! magazine as one of “The 50 Most Evil Songs Ever”.
In a Loudwire readers’ poll, “Square Hammer” was voted best rock song of the decade, and it won by a country mile.
Their appearance is one of a pantomime theatre performance that imitates the Roman Catholic Church with a pseudo-satanic twist. Frontman Tobias Forge has drawn obvious inspiration from old European horror B-movies for the clergy’s Papa Emeritus character, who led the order in three incarnations across their first three albums, each representing a chapter in the story of their brand of clergy.
Prequelle, their fourth album or chapter, received critical acclaim all over the world and made the top 10 here in the UK. This part of their saga is brought to us by Cardinal Copia, who takes the reins as an apprentice Papa. This sounds ridiculous, and it is, but so what? It’s great fun. If you dare to look past your initial Satanic Panic and take a step into their world, you will find carefully crafted songs about a great many subjects: the avarice of mankind, shamelessly defiant statements about the totalitarian nature of some organised secular religions, and songs that reflect on political corruption through the lens of a witness to the bubonic plague. It all comes delivered on the silver plate of pop rock, hard metal, extended guitar solos and metal saxophone, with the occasional seven-minute opus and everything in between. By all accounts, Ghost upstaged Metallica as their support act on Metallica’s European tour. They are very good, and music’s most compelling innovation in a very long time.
In November 2019, the Clergy brought their Ultimate Tour Named Death to Wembley’s SSE Arena in London.
Arriving at Wembley
I arrived in Wembley in plenty of time to get a toasted sandwich and a cappuccino from a Costa in the Civic Centre next door, and sat in the warm eating my snack while I watched the crowd of fans grow outside the arena.
I waited at a side entrance of the arena for my media pass, along with other guests and members of the media, all of us excited about the night’s entertainment. Venue staff guided us through, gave us the obligatory safety advice and our passes, and took us to the pit. Wembley Arena offers a spacious area for photographers to work in.
Tribulation
First up on stage were Tribulation, a Swedish black metal band who bring elements of psychedelic rock into their occult performance. They appeared all in black, with face paint that reflected the glow of the mostly green light illuminating these ghostly figures. Their hard, heavy sound got a warm welcome from the large number of fans they had in the audience.
Industrial joss sticks filled the stage with a wispy fog that they moved through. It caught the ends of the guitarist’s deliberately ragged clothes as he danced around the stage, giving them an eerie presence.
They gave a solid performance, which was reflected back to them by the dedicated hardcore fans in the front few rows, and left the stage having energised an already excited audience.
All Them Witches
Next up were All Them Witches, an American rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. I had never heard of them before that night. Their style draws on blues, country and psychedelic rock, and they were a stark contrast to what came before and what was coming next. This seemed to leave people somewhat confused. They were clearly talented musicians with a well-crafted, unique sound, and their music is well worth looking up on Spotify, but they gave off a vibe that seemed a little out of place on that night’s bill.
The auditorium fell dark and the stage dressers got to work behind enormous blackout curtains. Excitement began to build.
Ghost
Having had enough time to scoff a Wembley classic hot dog and wash it down with a crisp, cool pint, it was time to head back to the pit. The stage had been dressed as the interior of a church. The backdrop was three large backlit stained-glass windows with the three Papas illustrated on them. The Nameless Ghouls took their positions around the ambulatory as “Ashes” played hauntingly over the speakers around Wembley Arena, which was now the nave of Copia’s church.
The enigmatic Cardinal Copia, in his letterbox-red tuxedo vestments, prosthetic mask and black eye make-up, takes to the brightly lit pulpit that is tonight’s stage. The crowd roar as the hard, heavy riffs of “Rats” kick in from the Ghouls as they prowl the pulpit with their iconic, custom-made signature Hagstrom Fantomen guitars.
This evening’s service has begun.
I knew Kieran Larkin was out there somewhere, I didn’t think for a moment I’d spot him in the crowd, but he saw me looking.
Ghost put on an incredible show, the kind you might find on any Broadway stage. The evening featured many costume changes, and extras in over-the-top theatrical costumes and plague masks. The Nameless Ghouls performed guitar duels, swinging the fretboards of their Fantomens at each other like swords while the Cardinal changed robes backstage. One of their duels was a metal rendition of the EastEnders theme. There was crowd participation, and comic conversational moments where Copia paused to apparently take communion from audience members. He rode his tiny tricycle across the stage during “Miasma”, and the elderly Papa Nihil came on stage in cool Ray-Bans to play the saxophone solo, before apparently keeling over dead to thunderous applause.
From the back of the congregation
After doing my photography, I stashed my kit with the venue staff, grabbed a pint and stood towards the back to watch the show. I posted on Facebook “Ghost live – awesome”, or some such thing. “You’re here too?” replied my friend Alex. I gave him my rough whereabouts, not expecting him to find me in the enormous congregation, until he tapped me on the shoulder. We rocked, danced very macabrely and sang along with thousands to perhaps the best concert performance I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot. It’s true: Ghost are head and shoulders better than Metallica live.
The evening’s service ended with pyrotechnics and confetti as everyone sang along to the best song of the decade, “Square Hammer”. By the end of the night’s service we had all been given a blessing by his holiness to wear our independence like a crown, and we stepped out, empowered, into a cold November night, bewitched in the moonlight. I was now immune to the ills of our world. I had taken my oath with my fellow brethren before a comically pseudo-satanic version of Freddie Mercury. I had sworn to be honest and true, on the square and on the level, having been forewarned by Cardinal Copia, with his competition-winning pencil-thin moustache, about corrupt politicians, singular deities who would exploit ignorance for profit, and all the other filthy rodents who are coming for my soul.
Setlist
Ashes
Rats
Absolution
Faith
Mary on a Cross
Devil Church
Cirice
Miasma
Ghuleh/Zombie Queen
Helvetesfönster
Spirit
From the Pinnacle to the Pit
Ritual
Satan Prayer
Year Zero
Spöksonat
He Is
Mummy Dust
Kiss the Go-Goat
Dance Macabre
Square Hammer
