Ghost at Place Bell

Hot on the heels of the release of their fifth studio album, IMPERA, Grammy-winning Swedish rock giants Ghost came back to haunt North America with their IMPERAtour.

At 9:20 sharp the lights dimmed as the opening riff of ‘Kaisarion’ began to fill the arena and the ghouls appeared on the stage as the curtain dropped – everyone eagerly awaiting the arrival of Papa Emeritus IV.

The night was filled with costume changes for Papa, and no matter where you looked on stage at any given time; there was always something entertaining to see. Whether it was the Ghouls interacting with the fans, to Papa playfully dancing with other members on stage during one of the many instrumental solos – it was never a dull moment. It also goes to show how much detail goes into Ghost’s production, as there wasn’t ever an empty space on the stage.

A highlight of the night was when they wheeled out Papa Nilih (Papa Emeritus IV’s father) who had been previously killed off as part of Cardinal Copia’s storyline at Ghost’s Final Show Named Death in Mexico back in 2020. This entailed resuscitating him from his clear coffin that was on display at Ghost’s Veneration of Relics exhibit that was on display for meet and greets holders before the show. A crewmember appeared on stage with a defibrillator to try and resuscitate Papa Nilih, and as sparks flew around the case Nilih was seen coming back to life and searching for his saxophone (see out photo from the crowd at the Toronto show).

The set list for this tour really showcased the band’s entire career as all fans were appeased with at least one song from each album being played. Fans in Laval were also in for a treat as ‘He Is’ was removed from the set the night before in Quebec City to make room for ‘Griftwood’ – a song off of the new album that quickly gained traction amongst the fans upon it’s release. Ghost mastermind, Tobias Forge, has a knack for writing songs that can hold their own outside of their respective albums while seamlessly fitting together to create a cohesive set list and it was very evident during this tour. My only criticism is that I wished they had played ‘Twenties’. Ghost sets off their confetti cannons with Ghost bucks in it during ‘Mummy Dust’ and it felt like a missed opportunity to not switch that song out in favour of ‘Twenties’ and have the Ghost bucks rain when Forge sings “We’ll be grinding in a pile of moolah”.

Ghost’s 90 minute set list went by with a blink of an eye and I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeve for the next time that they’re here. They left the stage on a high note as they performed ‘Dance Macabre’ and ‘Square Hammer’.

If you ever have the chance to catch Ghost on tour, please do – even if metal and arena rock isn’t your thing, you’ll sure to be entertained.

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