13 Dates Of Doom Tour – Tuesday, January 24, 2012
I have been clamouring to see mysterious occult rockers GHOST in the flesh for a while now, and I wasn’t the only one, demonstrated by the sold-out crowd at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago. The audience stood hungry with anticipation while the stage was prepared for the Mighty Ones. Loads of smoke churned out against the faux stained-glass backdrop, masking the entrance of the black hooded band. Red and blue lights pierced through the glowing haze. The crowd erupted once Papa Emeritus I sauntered to the center of the stage, beautifully adorned in his “cardinal” gear and swinging his burning incense like a pendulum. He commanded the crowd before he uttered a note.
GHOST plowed through all of their debut Opus Eponymous (and a heavy rendition of “Here Comes The Son“), and the audience reacted as if each song was their personal favorite. The showgoers looked like your typical metal folk, black t-shirts and all, but the way they watched the show was something entirely different. Rather than shoving and moshing, they looked on in amazement, admiring the spectacle before them. They sang along LOUDLY, thanks to GHOST’s wonderful pop-centric songwriting. On more than one instant, I made eye contact with dudes shouting the lyrics like I was, which resulted in exchanged “hell yeah!” head nods.
Papa Emeritus I was brilliant on stage, maintaining a somber presence yet still managing to whip his hands in the air to signify a song’s ending. He reached into the audience on multiple occasions, and I thought those members of the crowd were going to pass out after receiving his evil touch. However, GHOST also had moments that reminded us they were human like the rest of us. Their second guitarist had technical issues and was left offstage altogether, and Papa took time to explain his whereabouts (“we are down a ghoul tonight”). His absence was noticeable on a few songs but did not detract from the overall musical performance, which was tight as ever. It was also surreal to hear his “regular” speaking voice. He thanked Chicago several times, gave props to his bandmates after instrumental “Genesis”, and gracefully bowed at the end of the night.
After closer “Ritual”, we were all left wanting more. No one expected an encore from the relatively new band. But we were all lucky to have seen GHOST in such an intimate setting. Regardless of what we believe, for sixty minutes on a Tuesday night, GHOST made us their faithful congregation. Great show, oh magnificent ghouls!
