Ghost
April 28, 2014
The Observatory- Santa Ana, CA
Swedish Metalers, Ghost, made a second pass in Southern California to perform to a SOLD OUT crowd at The Observatory in Santa Ana, California. They were touring to continue support for their sophomore album Infestissumam. The Observatory was packed to the max with both new and old fans of Ghost, hungrily waiting for Ghost to come on stage. But before them, we were given the opening band called, King Dude.
Their music had a rock and a bluesy sound. The singer’s singing style reminded me to that of Johnny Cash and he also alternated to louder and harsh vocals when he sang other songs. A good portion of the crowd didn’t seem to mind them as whenever the singer gave them the cue of what lyrics to sing, the crowd sang along to make King Dude feel welcome. Once they were finished, they gave their leave and prepared us for the force that is Ghost!
At 10 pm sharp, the lights went out and bright red lights came on and the crowd was creepily greeted by Masked Ball, a song by Jocelyn Pook which had an eerie vibe to it as if the end of days is coming. A minute into the intro, the band members only known as “The Nameless Ghouls” started to come out and the crowd cheered with a thunderous response that was ear-piercing. The ghouls started the show with the intro track of their Infestissumam album, Infestissumam and once the track got started, the floor suddenly began to come alive as people began to push and shove as any metal concert starts.
As soon as the intro track finished, they continued with the second track of the album, Per Asfera ad Inferi in which by then, front-man and singer Papa Emeritus made his debut on stage and once again the crowd greeted him with a huge roar of excitement as the song continued. Throughout the night, Ghost kept the crowd entertained with a mix of both old and new material from both of their albums and 2 cover songs, Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles) and If You Have Ghosts (Roky Erickson). Clearly the older material had more of a rock/metal kick to them live than their newer material which is a bit on the softer side. They played plenty of fan favorites such as Elizabeth; Year Zero and Con Clavi Con Dio. They had a great set, although slight disappointment came when they didn’t play Secular Haze being a fan favorite that fans chanted for the band to play. Ghost wrapped up the show with If You Have Ghosts, but just when we thought they were finished, they came out for 2 encores and Papa Emeritus had us sing along to Monstrance Clock before Ghost departed from the stage as soon as the song was over and the final chorus kept playing leaving us all in awe of the amazing show the fans and audience just witnessed.
Review by: Misael Ruiz
