Ghost, Austin Texas
By Ruben Morales
The crowd stormed into Austin’s Moody Center to catch the spectacle that is Ghost. The crowd was dressed reflecting what Ghost represents – ghoulish, dark , mysterious, and fun! Painted skull faces were seen throughout the arena.These were not Just fans, they were a Ghost army. They not only love Ghost, they love to dress like them. Loyal to the core.
This Swedish born band has quite the following filling up arenas and stadiums alike. At one point, Ghost toured with heavy-metal Gods Metallica who they admire- and it’s huge deal. Metallica through numerous interviews, has stated that they too, are big Ghost fans.
(Tobias Forge) aka PAPA EMERITUS, and now CARDINAL COPIA is the lead singer and has written most of the band’s music. Forge founded the group in Linkoping in 2006. He Leads the band with a group of nameless ghouls who I’ve found their identity.The rest of the band lineup includes: CHRIS CATALYST , PER ERIKSSON, COS SYLVAN, HAYDEN SCOTT,JUTTY TAYLOR, LAURA SCARBOROUGH,MAD GALLICA, and SOPHIA AMELKIN.
The intensity was high prior to the Ghost set. The opening acts for the Ghost tour are legends, Mastodon, and Spiritbox and they brought the metal loud and heavy to all the fans who were there for these vibes. They brought a heavy one-two punch warming up for headliners Ghost.
See all our concert photos from the show on Austin 101.
As the crowd waited for Ghost, there was a high-energy buzz they created. The excitement could be seen in their eyes. One of the best parts of covering live music and photographing it, is feeling that vibe of the crowd right before they finally get to see their band hit the stage. This crowd’s vibe was intense and was reminiscent of watching a band like Kiss, or Metallica, or Iron Maiden for the first time.
A streaming humm rings out behind the curtain that stands between Ghost and their followers. Playing into the intro music and then shadows of the ghouls playing guitar appear against the curtain. Then the curtain drops and smoke shoots into the air behind the drums along with a huge bang. The fans were screaming louder than the music after that moment. We finally see the band appear.
The nameless ghouls all dressed in black, all wearing the same black helmets that cover their faces and looking like a new-age army. Dressed in tall black boots marching forward towards every corner of this massive stage. The guitar jams throughout the concert were serious metal and amazing; solos were shared throughout the evening by the faceless ghouls.
TOBIAS runs up in front of the stage singing ‘Kaisarion’ from their recent album IMPERA. He never stands still wearing his ghoulish skull makeup dressed in the most stylish dark attire and in the personal he’s created.
Tobias is quite the showman, spending time on every corner of the stage singing to every corner of the crowd. With that being said, every bandmate (nameless ghouls) and every instrument contributes to the amazing sound of Ghost. Tobias engaged the crowd in banter many times during the set and once asked if the Austin crowd liked to party? And the reply was a screaming YES. Then he asked if they liked the cinema? This was his introduction to the song ‘Hunters Moon’. The crowd responded by singing the entire song with him. The setlist was long and included their hits ‘Rats’, ‘Cirice’, ‘He is’, and more.
If you have not seen Ghost live, catch them on this tour if you can. THE MUSIC, ATMOSPHERE, LIGHTS, LAZERS, SMOKE, THEATER, and THE METAL- it’s an incredible production and should not be missed.
Check out the entire show setlist at Setlist.com
