Authored by Frankie James

Highly anticipated, the “Ultimate Tour Named Death” with Ghost definitely created buzz and became the go to concerts for fans and theater stage production type goers, the latter quite frankly being me. So I had to check this craziness out and see what all the fuss was about. Although not too bad, I wasn’t a huge fan of this genre music, but hey we’re a music magazine and we cover it all … Otherwise, I am a huge lover of big stage production in sound, lighting and other visuals which in my humble opinion creates the overall atmosphere and can boost your adrenalin and feel of the concert, and in this case it truly did!

The stage set was massive and will obviously take time to change over from the opening band Nothing More. A little over an hour, but gave time for everyone to grab drinks, but also created the hype that shit was about to happen with the crowd screaming louder as the time slipped by and back ground music getting louder. Ya know, the typical build up … then BAMM!!

So gothic type music increased louder and louder, curtains raised while still dark … Then a spot light emanating the silhouette of the stage and finally Tobias with his stately pose and manner with the fans screaming!  Ghost started off with Ashes and flowed seamlessly into Rats. The senses were stimulated, the sound was intense and stage show was like watching a Broadway musical on steroids. Jaws dropped with everyone remaining quiet until certain explosions of visual grandeur happened, then cheers occured.   Several songs were sung along with audience participation with Tobias often offering a dry sense of humor.

A total of 20 songs in their set made for long concert, often intimate in nature.  What lacked for the excitment with the musicians was made up by the massive lighting rigs, explosions and stage props well choreographed.  Throughout the set songs like Spirit, Circle, Ritual and Year Zero kept the fans entertained with dark displays causing subliminal messages to stain the brain. The set ended with Dance Macabre and Square Hammer closing it out with fireworks and guitar solo that frenzied the crowd!  

Overall I was impressed with the performance and “bang for your buck” eye candy of light, fog and strobe sensationalism, that alone was worth the ticket price.