Ghost @ SSE Hydro, Glasgow (18th November 2019)

with: All Them Witches and Tribulation

Hosted by: DF Concerts

WORDS: Joanne Gray

The last time Ghost played in Glasgow in 2017, they were playing in the much smaller O2 ABC (RIP). For most bands, a jump from this size of a venue to headlining the biggest arena in Scotland would be career suicide. But most bands aren't Ghost. In the time since the mysterious Swedish spooky rockers last played in the UK, they have went on to headline Bloodstock and have had a ton of huge US support slots under their belt. Not to mention the band releasing their biggest album to date with last year's Prequelle. With all of this in mind, such a jump in venue was a risk worth taking. Especially with the extra sense of theatrics this could entail for this conventionally theatrical band.

But before getting to that, I should talk about the bands that opened the show that night.

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First up were fellow spooky Swedish metallers Tribulation, who formed back in 2005. Having only listened to this band a little bit before this gig and liking what I heard, I was keen to see whether they could deliver their rather theatrical sound in such a large venue. 

Building up the sense of atmosphere with some (particularly loud) eerie noises for a good five or ten minutes, the lights finally went out on the stage before turning neon green while smoke billowed extravagantly. Then out came the band in equally as theatrical gothic fashion while the shimmering clean opening lines of their first track, 'Nightbound' rang out from lead guitarist Jonathan Hultén. The rest of the band then entered in slightly doomy fashion as the heavier rhythm guitar, bass and drums gave things a Bathory feel. On vocals and bass, Johannes Andersson then showcased the more extreme elements of this band as he unleashed some black-metal-esque low growls while sticking rigidly to the microphone. 

Up against the more stony, brickhouse like temperament of the frontman, the two guitarists would create more energetic and flamboyant focal points for the band. This became particularly noticeable in the second song 'Melancholia' (from 2015's The Children of the Night), whose pacier, swung rhythms brought a slightly black n' roll vibe to the set, a la modern day Darkthrone. The flashy, wah drenched lead sections were accompanied by Jonathan Hultén running from side to side and showcasing his skills in enthusiastic fashion. Keeping the rhythm intact, the wonderfully theatrical and androgynous Adam Zaars floated around the stage, sweeping his black hooded robes like a campy Dracula as the large amounts of smoke gave a sense of mystery. It made a refreshing change to see a sense of theatricality from an extreme-leaning band take a more old-school gothic approach than your conventional black metal sacrificial offerings. 

And this more unique performance would continue throughout the set as the band exclusively played songs from their last two albums, rather than their earlier death metal albums. Last year's Down Below received a few more songs in the form of 'The Lament', 'The World' and 'Cries From the Underworld'. The former track opened with gentle but ominous clean guitars before expanding into a creepy doom-infused black metal track that showcased Andersson's vocals at their most threatening. 'The World' then felt a bit more upbeat, as energetic drumming and dual lead guitars gave the song a bit of a NWOBHM gallop which would linger throughout the track. A sense of space with the more restrained guitars throughout the song then gave the bluesy lead lines in the second third appropriate room to breathe though. This sense of space could then be seen in 'Cries From the Underworld', where more epic opening chords and backing strings built up throughout the verses to then fall back and let the rhythm guitarist take the reins for some desert-rock like lead lines for a little while. 

Unfortunately, this is when it began to click with me just what was the only (but rather glaring) issue with this set. The sound and mix onstage was really pretty poor. As Zaars stood up on the right hand platform and displayed a really expressive bluesy solo, I couldn't hear a thing. Taking out my earplugs only made the issue slightly less severe as the volume on the guitar here was criminally low. This was only emphasised when the lead guitarist would enter and completely drown out the other guitarist. In fact, the only real time you could hear any of the flourishes from the rhythm guitarist were when they were supported in the form of dual solos. Due to the fact that the interplay between these two members seemed particularly important for Tribulation providing a unique and memorable sound, it was a bit of a crime to me that the issue wasn't resolved as the set went on. Having my earplugs out for the rest of that song really made me realise just how muddy the sound had been up until that point as well.

As the band therefore went to close the set with the post-punk like 'The Motherhood of God' and the slower, sinister doom vibes of 'The Children of the Night' then, my only real issue was that the poor mix of the band meant that the tones on display often sounded undefined rather than intricate. Not a fault of the band, but one had an impact on my enjoyment of the set as a whole. It's a real shame, because this was a really interesting sonic and visual display from Tribulation as a whole. But ultimately it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity due to this factor outside of the band's control. By the time the last song ended then, I was quite glad that things were over, as the band's live sound just couldn't deliver on what I'd heard on record (a truly sad experience at the best of times). Listening to the band afterwards once again, I'm really quite annoyed that the sound gremlins robbed me of the feeling that I'd seen a landmark performance for this wonderfully appropriate and interesting band in the end. 

Nevertheless, Tribulation were definitely a band to check out for fans of theatrical and/or extreme metal. Hopefully you (and I) may see Tribulation with a sound that allows them to show what a cool band they are on record and onstage more effectively in the future though. Not their night in terms of sound, and that made their other really positive features a bit less hard to appreciate fully. 

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Flipping the coin entirely, the next band onstage simultaneously increased the quality and clarity of the sound while they toned down the theatrics and energy. Entering to the sound of fuzzy sounding desert rock waves of dirge spilling out from the Hiwatt amps and a more stripped back visual appearance, the Nashville three-piece All The Witches seemed like they'd shown up to the wrong gig. 

Evoking doomier, psychedelic bands like Black Sabbath, Iron Butterfly and Blue Cheer as well as reflectively barren sounding desert rock a la Kyuss, All Them Witches were certainly a left-of-field choice of support act. This was made especially clear when the three-piece entered the stage to minimal visual presence or introduction. But as the dirgy tones of the opening song 'Funeral For a Great Drunken Bird' bled out from the speakers, the choice of support here seemed markedly more suitable, considering Ghost's 60s and 70s rock influences.

Becoming quickly obvious as the first song lumbered on was that this was going to be a much more laidback set from the band than what had come before though. Taking nearly two minutes for the slightly off kilter drums to kick in, the two guitarists built off one another to construct a mood that felt like struggling through a desert in the blistering sun. Where the guitars were placed low in the mix for Tribulation and this was to the band's detriment, the vocals here from Charles Michael Parks Jr (which sounded a bit like those from Highly Suspect's singer Johnny Stevens) seemed to sit quite deliberately low beneath the slow, chunky riffing. It almost seemed like he was surfing on the wave of the riff here rather than ever becoming the focal point of the song. Having only really listened to this band briefly in the past, I didn't quite anticipate just how laidback they would be on stage physically as well though. Barely moving at all and barely ever interacting with the crowd, the band just locking into their grooves and delivered their stonerish brand of hefty rock for the next few minutes. As would then be a common occurrence, there then came a garage rock like solo from guitarist Ben McLeod that showcased the wonderful tone the band managed to bring forth with just three members. 

Up next was the even heavier, sludgy offering of '1x1', a song that will be part of the band's upcoming album. Offering some more floaty vocals to the song, Parks felt like he offered a bit more presence during this song, and as a result, it did feel a bit more easy to hold onto the vocal hooks crafted around those lingering guitar riffs. This would be the first example of a song which also showed off the talents of the band's drummer, Robby Staebler, as he threw in some nifty fills and double bass drumming towards the end of the song. Needless to say, these little shots of energy were about as active the band tended to be throughout the set, so they really did stand out to me when they occurred. 

Raising the psychedelic feels, 'Diamond' then brought forth some twanging chorus guitar notes on top of a dreary sounding beat, minimalistic palm muted chords and some slightly countrified vocals that once again went along with the rhythm rather than providing big hooks of their own. Of all the songs the band would play, this was one of their most gentle and tended to sit in the same ultra-relaxed territory for the duration of the song. The fact that the band's performance was so static during this song didn't really help give the more lackadaisical song a sense of urgency for me. As a result, it felt a bit like an odd choice of song to play to a crowd of unfamiliar metal fans. 

Thankfully the band then changed tact with the more interesting and hypnotic 'Charles William' (from the album Lightning at the Door). Opening with a trippy Tool-esque descending bass line, twanging slide guitar, a more bluesy rhythm and more prominent vocals, the song had a psychedelic, bluegrass rock feel that got people around me swaying about and bopping their heads a bit. It would then lift particularly well from the second third where the drummer kicked the pace up by throwing in some great little fills and McLeod flew up and down the neck with his slide. Keeping up this more urgent sense of tempo, the band then went into 'Dirt Preachers': a quicker, more pointed track that was reminiscent of early Queens of the Stone Age, while Staebler once again injected some much appreciated energy to proceedings. Slowing into more doomy territory towards the end of the song, the band then led into a really nice bluesy guitar solo that further highlighted the band's awesome tone. 

The highlight of the band's set though, would come in the form of 2013's 'When God Comes Back', which is the band's biggest song by some distance. It's not hard to see why with the big hooky, bluesy southern rock riff that resurfaces throughout the track. Differently to their other songs, the vocalist's melodic lines were more pronounced here as well and tended to follow the melodies of the guitars, which gave things a bit more punch. Evidently one of the band's 'radio' hits, the more accessible blues rock garage sound is something which All Them Witches are really good at, and this showed itself well in the live environment. The quality of this track was then emphasised further when it was followed up with the more methodical and slow '3-5-7' (Sleeping Through the War). Getting to this point in the set, I started to get the sense that the audience around me was starting to get a bit restless and I could somewhat agree with that sentiment. 

I therefore anticipated that the band would end things off with another big tune, but instead we were confronted with another slow offering in 2012's 'Blood and Sand/Milk and Endless Waters'. Consisting of largely spoken word vocals, repetitive clean guitar and bass lines, the song built slightly to an almost jazzy sounding clean solo and drum beats to end things off on a sedate note. I thought this was a bit of an odd way to end their set at the time, but the band didn't really seem to mind letting things ebb and flow. Thankfully, it didn't seem that the crowd were too bothered too, as the mellow energy of the set seemed to have washed over on much of the audience around me. 

For myself, I did find my attention wandering a little during All Them Witches' set, and did wish at certain points that the band had a bit more life to them. Especially in the more plodding songs. When coming after Tribulation, the slower material in particular seemed slightly lethargic at points. I do think that's sort of the point of this sort of band though, and that they do that sort of thing pretty well. I just think this would have probably come across more effectively if we were watching them sitting down in a festival field than standing in a packed arena. Then again, there was only a couple of (drunk) people who heckled the band towards the end of their set, so I do think this slightly odd booking was pretty successful, all things in mind. Check them out if you like your desert/stoner rock and let me know what you think...

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While we then waited for the main band of the night to come on, the large black curtain fell so that the stage could be constructed. This grand sense of theatre was only heightened as elegant piano tunes and the choral hymns swept through the arena. 

As the last notes of these songs ended, the equally atmospheric and slightly creepy childlike singing of Ghost's own 'Ashes' brought the main show to a start. With the powerful opening guitar chords in came some fuzzy organ-like synths, tinkling bells and mammoth sounding drums, and the curtain then came down to display an epic cathedral-like set up. The massive stained glass backdrop, seemingly marble staircase and white chains surrounding the drums and keyboards really gave the impression you were in a massive occult congregation. And that the band had stepped up their game immensely. This was certainly a change from the band's more stripped back stage set up I saw back at the O2 ABC. If anyone who is new to this band is wondering why I'm about to talk so much about the visuals of this band for the next little bit, then it's because the lore and the physicality of the band is perhaps just as important to Ghost's performance as the music itself. Go look the lore up for yourself. You owe it to yourself. 

Sweeping into Prequelle's Ozzy Osbourne-esque party starter, 'Rats', Glasgow was greeted by "Cardinal Copia" (frontman Tobius Forge's current character) for the very first time. Gone was the previous iconic skeleton facepaint in favour of some blackened eyes and contact lenses. The black robes and tuxedo was replaced with a snazzy red suit, jazzy shoes and a 1920's esque moustache and side burns. As the grooving drums and guitars bled into the huge chorus of the song, Forge prowled around the stage like the ringmaster of a freakish and sleazy circus. Sure, this debaucherous element has always been present within Ghost's sound and visual performance, but the way Forge would swivel and gesticulate around the stage was more blatantly sexualised than before. This would also show itself more than a few times throughout the set as well as Forge would make light hearted rude gestures and comments out to the crowd, to great amusement. Complimenting the outlandishly campy sense of devilish theatre, the ever-present and mysteriously anonymous "Nameless Ghouls" on the instruments were kitted out in their usual devilish silver masks and black robes. Marking a change from the last time I saw them though, there was an addition of a third guitarist and two "Ghoulettes" on backing vocals and keys this time around. And this brings us back nicely to the music itself. 

For the first third of the setlist, Ghost played newer material, displaying the band's confidence in this more "accessible" material. Meloria's 'Absolution' introduced some of the occult vibes that would present themselves throughout sections of the performance. Half doomy and half disco-beat, the contrast between the more pounding verses and singalong chorus both managed to get heads bopping and fists raised in unison. The spooky vibes continued with 'Faith': a stomping, metallic groovy tune which brought forth some more really cool demented melodic lead lines and snarling vocals from Forge to counterbalance his conventionally higher pitched choruses. I can particularly remember the Nameless Ghouls on this song really getting into the performances as they glared out somewhat menacingly out to the crowd. 

In typical Ghost style though, the flashes of cheesy pop couldn't stay away from their performance for too long, and 'Mary on a Cross' was the perfect song to introduce these more sugary sentiments. Coming from the band's recent Seven Inches of Satanic Panic single, the organ-heavy psychedelic 60's pop-rock tune brought forward the band's sense of campy fun particularly well. It was certainly an experience seeing that "Tickle you internally" line play out in front of so many people, and for them to all sing it alongside them. That sense of joyful abandon certainly wasn't lost on the crowd around me either as I could see plenty of people grinning away like mad while singing alongside Forge.In response to which, he knowingly returned a half smile and wave back to those in the front row. For the first (but not the last) time that night, I gained a greater appreciation of the band's growing lineup as well. The female backing vocals in particular really added that extra sense of scale and melody to the already massive tune. Great times to be had here. 

This feeling of playfulness then lingered as the organ sounds of the synth here led into the slightly Scooby Doo chase scene-like bass-heavy tune 'Devil Church'. Elongating the track from its original one minute version, the Nameless Ghouls up front took the opportunity to throw in an instrumental version of The Proclaimers' '500 Miles' in between winding in and out of each other's paths, all the while gesturing competitively over to each other as they added evermore melodic flourishes. This little section was most likely implemented to give Forge time to get changed into a different costume (which would happen several times throughout the set), but it also managed to give way to the doomy banger that is 'Cirice'. The humour and sense of glee promoted here made this feel like a joy to watch rather than a chore as instrumental sections often do in live shows. Such is the beauty of this band that such little interactive moments feel just as important to the show and the illusion of ritual as the songs do. 

What was less integral to my enjoyment of the show, and to the immersive nature of the experience was the behaviour of some of the crowd around me though, and this reached its peak during the chunky riffage of 'Cirice'. For the entirety of the first half an hour of the show, a small group of people next to me were drunkingly flailing and launching themselves into innocent bystanders near the front of the stage. Even when there wasn't any music playing...  After having one particularly big guy nearly fall onto me countless times and another overly smiley guy consistently knock me in the arm and ribcage, I was starting to feel the red mist descending and it was starting to seriously distract me from the show. Very thankfully, it seemed that the energy expended from the group after the mosh-worthy verses of 'Cirice' , which meant that they ended up leaving to get more booze in their system. A sigh of relief could be physically felt in the atmosphere as the crowd instantly became more tolerable and enjoyable to be a port of. Can't be a big metal gig without some drunken idiots ruining it for others, huh?

Leaving this blood-pressure raising experience to the past though, it was over to 'Miasma' to successfully lighten the mood for myself, and to raise the bar effectively for the rest of the gig. Opening with synth-heavy eerie, space-rock sounds, the massive, compressed drum beats brought in the heavier tones of the guitars to play off the melodies of the B-side sci-fi synths. Then came the sweeping dual guitar lines alongside more lumbering bass tones. Here, the three guitarists would stand next to each other, striking guitar hero poses a la Iron Maiden. This sense of fun would continue as the song continued to grow into a more pacey, but still atmospheric banger that got people moving about. The excitement which was tangible with the increasingly quick drumming, epic Zack Wilde like guitar solos and synth flourishes reached its peak when we saw "security" dragging out the old and wizened figure of "Papa Nihil" (another one to look up for those unfamiliar). Seemingly crumbling and falling over due to his age, the dusty figure was still able to give the audience that wicked saxophone solo that you hear on the record. Well, the illusion of it anyway... Either way, this really was a cool thing to see live, and it further built upon the creative and diverse narrative of this wonderfully bizarre band.

And this diversity was further shown with the introduction of the band's more laidback material. Moving back to their earlier album Infestissumam for the first time that evening, the pianos and vocals took centre stage for the lounging opening minutes of 'Ghuleh/Zombie Queen'. Prompted by Forge in his conductor-like fashion, the lullaby melody of the "Guleh" vocal line got people around the arena singing along nicely, and raised the energy for the more rousing second half. Bringing a bit more bite in the live environment to the spaghetti western bouncing bass and guitar lines, this was a song that was a lot more fun than you would have expected from the opening notes. This sense of surprise very much carried over onto the instrumental track, 'Helvestesfönster'. Starting out in gentle fashion, the pianos were once more at the front of things, creating an atmospheric sort of soft introduction, accompanied by rumbling bass and sweeping woodwind evoking synth melodies. As the song built its sense of grandeur over its extended duration, the Nameless Ghouls once again competed with one another to produce the most skillful and impressive solos to great joy from the crowd and encouragement from Forge.

As the song ended, we were then greeted with the utterly Scooby-Doo like spoopy synths of Meliora's 'Spirit', which grew into a more conventionally Ghost heavy 70s rock song. As the drums and guitars picked up pace, the crowd got more energetic once again and bounced along nicely to the verses. I forgot just how big the choruses on some of the band's lesser known songs are as well, and 'Spirit' was one such example of this. Although the backing vocals and organ synths created a great sense of scale though, this couldn't really compete with what was to come next.

Immediately whipping the crowd in a frenzy, the fuzzed up bass grooves of Meliora's 'From The Pinnacle to the Pit' marked the moment where the band would jump into an even higher gear. As soon as the doomy guitars and spiraling leads kicked in for the song, the crowd bounced about and sang along even more enthusiastically as they had for 'Cirice' earlier in the set. Highlighting the band's great knack for crafting a mammoth poppy chorus alongside chunky riffs, this was one of the standout moments so far. But the next few songs felt quite special too. Introducing the only two songs played from the band's debut album as "songs Papa used to play", the one two of 'Ritual' and 'Satan Prayer' got the band feeling more sinister and evil than much of the set had up until that point. And this was only heightened when the band decided to follow this up with 'Year Zero'. As the multi-layered vocals of the absolutely mammoth chorus were almost drowned out by the audience to the delight of Forge at the helm, it became clearer than ever that Ghost are really pretty unrivalled within darker musical spheres in the ability to write and perform such awesome earworms. 

It made sense that the relative calmness of the end of 'Year Zero' would then lead into the gentle harp-like tones of 'Spöksonat' playing on tape in the background. Allowing for the whole band except two Ghoulettes on the keys to take a short break, only Forge then re-emerged next to the keyboards as the opening tinkles of the choral ballad 'He Is'  began to rapturous applause. And for good reason. The undeniable hooks and melodies sprinkled all the way throughout this track guaranteed some of the biggest crowd singalongs of the night. Particularly when the absolutely monstrously huge chorus kicked in. Showcasing the band's more subtle mastery of making a song that is essentially a love letter to Satan himself sound like a perfectly normal yet majestic hymn from the Catholic Church, the song managed to sound like it was designed for such a large room of people to sing along to. Awesome stuff. 

Reminding those in attendance that the band's knack for creating huge songs wasn't just restricted to this softer material though, it was over to 'Mummy Dust' to bring a bit more heavy metal to the table once more. Commenting that the song was the heaviest thing the band had written, Forge amped the crowd in very Copius fashion by asking them how much they loved heavy music and telling them that the song would violate their bodies in sexual fashion. Needless to say, cheers ensued at this prospect and this only heightened when the opening doom laden slabs of riffage thrashed ominously. As with the last time I saw the band play the song, the live version was so much chunkier than the recorded version, and the addition of the extra guitarist and keyboards further added to this sense of heft. Particular shout out to the mid section of the song where the tempo increased and the thrashy riff sounded as huge as something Metallica could have written. Although Ghost seem to play this song fairly regularly, it still seems like an underappreciated gem and it was such a cool thing to experience once again in this size of room. The rest of the crowd seemed to agree as heads were banging and bodies jumped all around me. 

Getting this last bit of heaviness out of everyone's system, it was then over to the last three songs to really up the pop stakes and show everyone that Ghost can compete with the best of the biggest stars on the planet. Bringing forth The Doors' brand of 1970s psychedelic rock mixed with a little bit of ABBA/Bee Gees disco-pop, the other track from the recent Seven Inches of Satanic Panic single made an appearance. With as much humour as the other song, the wonderfully campy 'Kiss the Go-Goat' brought the fun in spades straight away as the vintage organ sounds fuelled Forge's infectious disco-like melodies and dance moves to get the crowd jiving. If you're less familiar with the band's lore, you should check out the music video for this one to get the full context for the sound here. Believe me, it's well worth it. Because this is a little extra track to add to the Ghost narrative rather than defining it though, I'm not sure whether it will stay in the band's live set for the foreseeable. In saying that though, it wouldn't surprise me if it did due to how fun and energetic this was to experience. 

Moving seamlessly into Prequelle's 'Dance Macabre', the bass-heavy funky disco rhythms continued, providing perfect ammo to get the audience bouncing along. In typical Ghost fashion, the chorus here is another example of an earworm that refuses to get out of your head for days. It's safe to say that this happened to me once again after seeing them play this song that night. As if the extreme levels of ridiculousness on show here wasn't enough to make this performance one of the highlights of the set though, the band decided to also go all out visually by flashing rainbow disco lights and shooting out gold confetti towards the end of the song (in which there were some rare Ghost dollar-bills that some lucky people managed to get a hold of). As with the brief usage of dry ice and pyrotechnics used at some points earlier in the show, such implementation of sparing but effectively used visual effects really meant that they made their mark when they were utilised. Carrying on such previous traditions of creative visual displays, I can only imagine that the scale of this will continue to develop and grow in the future too. 

It would have made perfect sense for Ghost to end things there and then after this climactic affair, but thankfully there was still one more song in the locker to end things off in style. In the process, 'Square Hammer' would also show that this band are simply one of the most capable heavy rock bands out there to capture the mainstream. Aptly summing up the events of the band's set into one last communal singalong, things could barely have been any larger in this arena unless it so happened that the world's biggest popstars were on stage. With one last 80s guitar hero solo and ear splittingly loud sungalong chorus, one of the greatest visual displays I've seen of the year was done. As the entire band stood side by side, bowing out to the sound of Emmylou Harris' 'Sorrow in the Wind', I was pondering just how far this band have come in such a short time, and how much further they could continue to go in the future. 

And that was the real takeaway from this show for me. Although the Hydro was by no means full, the fact that Ghost have managed to be one of the few rock bands to make the jump from club shows to arena shows while feeling so authentic and deserved at the same time makes this band a true success story of the last decade. I would be stunned if Ghost aren't headlining major rock festivals in the next few years (Download 2021 headliner please!), and performances like this one that night provide more than enough evidence to suggest that they would nail these even bigger stages without difficulty. Sure, the band aren't quite at the stage of overthrowing religions and governments. But they can't be too far off. 

What a gig. And what a band.

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Thanks to you for checking out this review of Ghost at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow! Feel free to leave a comment below or support RWEI by giving us a like/follow over on the socials. 

Cheers!