By Andrew Bansal
April 27th 2014, Fonda Theatre, Hollywood CA: Swedish occult rock sensation Ghost embarked on the ‘Year Zero’ North American tour ten days ago and made their way to a sold-out Fonda Theatre last night, along with opening act King Dude. Having never had a chance to see Ghost perform live prior to this and quite honestly with little to no understanding of what exactly makes this two-album old band such a hotly popular entity, I ventured to the Fonda greatly curious to discover the Ghost phenomenon.
Doors opened at 7:30 and the eagerly awaiting audience swiftly entered the venue. A huge crowd instantly formed around the merchandise stand, with people flocking to buy ridiculously tacky shirts that said ‘Papa’ in huge letters on the front, and some even gleefully walking up to purchase a dildo. When people are ready to spend $60 on a Pope-headed dildo, it’s clear that there’s plenty of money to throw around in this world. Anyhow, with my best efforts to forget what I had just seen, I headed upstairs and found a seat in the center of the second row of the balcony, which gave me an absolutely perfect view of the stage and the full range of the sound all evening.
At 8:30, Seattle-based rock/folk singer/songwriter/guitarist TJ Cowgill a.k.a. King Dude appeared on stage with his two live band mates Joey D’Auria on drums and David Nelson on guitar/keys to play a 40-minute set in an attempt to warm up this capacity crowd for the headline act. Vocally, Cowgill brought forth an interesting mix of clean singing interspersed with harsh, growling outbursts and guitar-wise, his strumming and occasional soloing had a distinguishable Americana/Spaghetti Western feel to it. Altogether the band portrayed a mystical vibe with little to no lighting on them. Their music through the set varied from slow and deeply melancholic to faster, heavier bits, and I enjoyed the latter a lot more. Quite a few of the songs were preceded by taped intros, perhaps too many, and the keyboard wasn’t used nearly as much as it should have been, because whenever it was, it definitely enhanced the band’s sound positively. Their new song ‘Fear Is All You Know’ was my favorite item of the set and overall, King Dude were certainly not a bad choice as opener for a band like Ghost. Having just witnessed Earth mesmerize the El Rey Theatre last Friday, I can now add King Dude as another Seattle band I’d be looking forward to seeing again.
King Dude links:
KingDude.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/KingDudeMusic
instagram.com/KingDudeMusic
Classic tunes by artists such as Bon Jovi and Joan Jett were played on the PA in the intermission, keeping the general mood joyous, as I couldn’t help but sing my heart out to ‘Runaway’. Not long after, the curtains were lifted and the audience was subjected to two full minutes of intro music, after which the lights went out and there was another two-minute intro. Finally, after this exaggerated buildup, the five ‘nameless ghouls’ of Ghost appeared on stage and started playing their instruments, frontman Papa Emeritus II walking up to join them shortly after, much to the uncontainable delight of this set of loyal Ghost fans.
They went on to present almost their entire discography, playing all but four songs from their two full-length albums ‘Opus Eponymous’ and ‘Infestissumam’ and throwing in a couple of covers along with the original material as well. I was extremely glad to find out that their two worst, most boring songs ‘Satan Prayer’ and ‘Secular Haze’ were excluded from this set list and that in itself increased my rating of their show a notch or two. On the flip side, they played their best song ‘Ritual’ a little too early in the set for my liking and I was wondering whether the rest of the set would bring nothing but disappointment. But with that said, the song sounded undeniably great, living up to just about exactly how I had always imagined it in my head.
As they went through their set, it was clear to me that the ‘Opus Eponymous’ tunes sounded better than the newer material by a long distance with a stronger guitar sound, more harmonies and solos, and more compelling song structures. The album that really catapulted the band to instant fame was this debut effort, and in my opinion, the follow-up ‘Infestissumam’ largely failed to live up to the hype. The newer songs came across to me as a little too poppy and pretentious in an over-the-top way when I first heard the album, and I felt the exact same way upon hearing these songs live, although ‘Year Zero’ and ‘Monstrance Clock’ made a stronger than expected impact. Besides, their cover of the Beatles’ ‘Here Comes The Sun’ was a welcome little throwback, while the overly cheerful Rody Erickson cover wasn’t.
I’ll have to admit, aside from one or two songs I’ve not really been able to appreciate Ghost’s music up until now and haven’t jumped on the Ghost bandwagon over the past three years of their meteoric rise. I was ready to write them off, but after seeing them play this show, I don’t think I can. In all honesty, they make a strong case for themselves with their live performances alone, regardless of what you think of their studio albums. But it’s important to point out that for me the positive impression they formed on me last night had absolutely nothing to do with their stage persona or visual gimmick. I could care less for it, it didn’t do anything for me, and didn’t enhance the show in any manner whatsoever. When I was witnessing this Ghost show, I was hardly even compelled to notice the hooded robes or the seemingly ritualistic stage setup, and all that mattered to me was the music itself which sounded excellent as the musicians under those costumes showcased great skill on their respective instruments. I would have enjoyed the show just as much if it was six regular dudes playing the same songs.
Ghost took a poppy direction with their second album and it’ll be interesting to see where they go with the next one, whether it’ll be even more poppy or going the other way. I would welcome more guitar harmonies and solos, and I think the keyboard can be utilized much, much better. Leaving the blatant satanic themes aside, the music is nothing but a blend of Metallica riffs and Blue Oyster Cult melody lines and isn’t new or original by any means, but then again, there isn’t one band out there today that’s reinventing the wheel.
The crowd’s response was beyond great, with fans singing, jumping and head-banging through the entirety of the set, the female members of the audience clearly the loudest of the lot as my hearing abilities were more endangered by two chicks behind me screaming at the top of their lungs the whole time than the sound emanating from the stage. Talking of, this was my first time in the Fonda balcony and the sound quality up there is clearly better as compared to what you hear downstairs. If and when you go to this venue next, if sound is what matters to you the most, take my word and head upstairs.
Overall, seeing Ghost live was certainly an intriguing experience. It’s safe to say that their show is worth every penny spent by the paying audience, although I still feel that the amount and degree of hype surrounding them is perhaps not quite justified as I can think of several other bands that portray this theatrical brand of heavy metal in a more appealing manner.
Ghost links:
Ghost-Official.com
facebook.com/TheBandGhost
twitter.com/TheBandGhost
Set List:
01. Infestissumam / Per Aspera ad Inferi
02. Ritual
03. Prime Mover
04. Jigolo Har Megiddo
05. Con Clavi Con Dio
06. Elizabeth
07. Body & Blood
08. Death Knell
09. Here Comes the Sun (The Beatles cover)
10. Depth of Satan’s Eyes
11. Stand By Him
12. Genesis
13. Year Zero
14. If You Have Ghosts (Roky Erickson cover)
Encore:
15. Ghuleh/Zombie Queen
16. Monstrance Clock
Remaining tour dates:
04/28 Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory
05/01 Austin, TX – Emo’s
05/02 Houston, TX – House Of Blues
05/03 Dallas, TX – House Of Blues
05/04 New Orleans, LA – Civic Theatre
05/06 Orlando, FL – The Beacham
05/07 Fort Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Live
05/09 Atlanta, GA – Center Stage
05/10 Chattanooga, TN – Track 29
05/11 Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theatre
05/12 Ashville, NC – The Orange Peel
05/14 Silver Spring, MD – The Fillmore
05/15 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
05/16 Poughkeepsie, NY – The Chance
05/17 New York, NY – Best Buy Theater
Fonda Theatre links:
FondaTheatre.com
facebook.com/TheFonda
twitter.com/FondaTheatre
instagram.com/FondaTheatre