KONSERT Borta bra, men hemma i Linköping bäst.Ghosts efterlängtade hemkomst är en träffsäker triumf. Sofia Bergström recenserar spelningen p
Review of the Linköping concert by Sofia Bergström at Aftonbladet. She gave the show 5 out of 5 plus signs.
"Ghost is hair-raisingly good at home
CONCERT Away is good, but home in Linköping is best. Ghost's long-awaited homecoming is a surefire triumph.
Ghost Location: Saab Arena, Linköping. Audience: Sold out, around 7,500 souls. Length: 110 minutes. Best: Most of it. Worst: The heavy bass sometimes drowns out Tobias Forge's fine voice, which would have liked to have taken a bigger role in the soundscape. Question: When do you think Ghost will do their first headline gig at Ullevi?
LINKÖPING. Ghost is currently sailing in a rarely seen tailwind.
A few weeks ago, the rock band made Swedish music history when their latest album "Skeletá" secured first place on the American album chart. For those of us who have followed Ghost and Tobias Forge's success closely, the impressive chart placement didn't come as a major shock. Those of us in the know knew it was only a matter of time.
The hype for this week's two Swedish gigs has been enormous, on social media as well as in the national media. The festivities are already starting outside Saab Arena. Teenage girls dance to the “Scooby Doom”-swinging “Square Hammer.” Pope replicas in sequined jackets and choir robes stroll confidently through the expectant crowd. Goth nuns in white make-up shiver in the cold May weather. Some have been queuing since 5am this morning to nab coveted spots at the riot fence.
The long lines that squirm like black anacondas make it feel like the arena won't be able to satisfy the prevailing Ghost hunger. That feeling is reinforced the second the band opens with "Peacefields." When Linköping native Tobias Forge – in the role of his latest pope persona Papa V Perpetua – dances with great pomp onto the stage with lush arm gestures, the venue seems to expand as a result of all the ecstasy.
With a steady hand, the frontman and his seven nameless ghosts then lead the audience through a show where Ghost surpasses themselves on every level. The stage production, styling (Forge probably breaks records for the number of cool outfits), pyrotechnics and delivery are among the strongest of their career and pave the way for a buffet of hair-raising highlights. “Satanized” opens the doors to a disco at the bottom of Dante’s inferno. The chorus is a goddamn earworm that winds its way into the brain’s hippocampus while setting your hips in an exciting Elvis-like sway.
The weight of “Rats” makes it feel like someone is pressing a defibrillator against your chest, electric shocks coursing through your body with every drumbeat and thrashy riff. And the energy that the occult colossus “Year Zero” conjures up has the potential to awaken the dead from their eternal slumber. No matter what Forge & co throw in the way of the peppy audience – lush Yngwie Malmsteen hard rock (“Faith”), bubblegum pop retro rock (“Dance macabre”) or schlagergo playing (“Darkness at the heart of my love”) – everyone involved feels completely lost in the moment. Which may have something to do with the lack of mobile phones, which are strictly prohibited tonight.
Before the first encore, Forge can't resist the temptation to drop all facades and address the Linköping audience in Swedish. He talks, noticeably taken by the situation, about how he long ago skated in the ice rink next door and daydreamed about playing in the arena. This summer, the 44-year-old will stand on the big stage at Madison Square Garden, a feat that few Swedish musicians can boast of. But the question is whether tonight's gig at home is not a bigger milestone. At least rite here, rite now.
Footnote: On Friday, May 23, Ghost plays at Göransson Arena in Sandviken."
