Ghost
August 20, 2015
Amoeba Records- Los Angeles, CA
The children of Los Angeles lined up as early as 1 am to get a good spot to see Papa Emeritus III and the Nameless Ghouls. To our surprise, the line to get into Amoeba was so long, it wrapped around the entire block on which Amoeba sits. With signing tickets being sold out before 11 am, people in line around 3 pm wondered if they would even get inside the record store to see the performance. Amoeba started rolling guests inside the store around 3:30 pm and into the main sales floor and lined everyone isle by isle. The entire store, including the second floor balcony, was filled with nothing but people, and the store had to stop letting paying customers inside until the performance was over.
As show time was drawing near, and the Amoeba staff played a Ghost trivia game with everyone waiting for the ritual to begin. Prizes ranged from Ghost inspired candles to Amoeba gift cards. Shortly after, an eerie and mysterious woman who was in the Ghost video The Summoning IV: The Arrival, came out to introduce the band. Two members of the Nameless Ghouls came out with acoustic guitars in hand, and the store erupted in applause and cheers as Papa Emeritus III came out from behind the curtains. Ghost has arrived.
The Nameless Ghouls started laying some riffs while Papa Emeritus III handed some acoustic goodies to the people in front to play along with the band as they went into the first song Jigolo Har Megiddo of off the second album Infestissumam. Papa’s children (what the band likes to call their fans) sang along and the store was filled as if we were the choir in a satanic church; the church being Amoeba Records, in this instance. The song came into an end and the ghouls tuned their guitars as Papa interacted with the crowd and a small infant who dressed as Papa in his satanic pope outfit.
Once the guitars were tuned, Ghost played Ghuleh /Zombie Queen, the longest track in Infestissumam. As if this band wasn’t so unique already, Emeritus pulled out a kazoo to help preform the song to give it a little more “life.” Yes, a satanic themed band pulled out a kazoo at a metal acoustic show, and Papa even called it the “Kazoo of Destiny”. As weird as the this band is, they always seem to amaze us with the amount of creativity. Everything from the promotions, to the “history” of each Papa brings a new life to a genre that is desperately seeking to keep finding it’s own voice. All hail the Kazoo of Destiny!
The short acoustic set came to an end with the song If you Have Ghost, a Roky Ericson song that Ghost covered in 2013. Ghost took their bows and went into the back to prepare for a meet and greet and album signing. Our next fix of Ghost will come in October when they return to the states for their Black to the Future tour. Make sure to pick up the highly anticipated third album Meliora today at a record store near you and be sure to check back with Soundcheck411.com for future Ghost updates!
Review by: Alex Lucero
