Ghost Wasted No Time Sunday Night

Looking at some of the parents who escorted their teenage spawn to the Ghost concert at Kaseya Center on Sunday night, you couldn't help but wonder what was going through their heads. Were they devastated that their black-clad children were singing along to lyrics like "Come together/ For Lucifer's son"? Or were they just glad their offspring had two hours on a Sunday night where they couldn't look at the screen on their phones?.

Ghost is a Swedish rock band that performs its sets completely masked. Frontman Tobias Forge sings about the devil, backed by an eight-piece band dressed like skeletons with all kinds of occult imagery projected around them. Though their music is closer to what you would hear on Broadway or '70s arena rock than what you would generally consider the devil's music, 40 years ago, Ghost's demonic themes would have church groups protesting outside the show, burning their records. But Sunday night was, for all intents and purposes, a low-key, family-friendly affair. Kaseya Center was emptier than I'd ever seen it in the dozen or so shows I've attended at the venue. But the fans who were there were die-hard. Many had their faces painted to look like skeletons or ghosts, and others dressed like nuns. Nearly all sang along to just about every one of the 22 songs Ghost performed.

This was not a show for locals accustomed to running on Miami time. There were no openers, and Ghost went into their first song, "Peacefield," at exactly the 8 p.m. time that was printed on the tickets. To be completely transparent, it was hard to report if it was exactly 8, since attendees had to wrap their phones in sealed pouches.
If people were disappointed they couldn't take selfies and check what the setlist at their previous gigs were, you wouldn't know it. Fans were in the moment as we so rarely are. When between songs, the top-hatted skeletal guitarist, egged on the crowd, had them screaming and then getting silent with an efficiency that would make a Philharmonic conductor jealous.

The band kept the proceedings moving at a devilishly fast pace throughout their two hours on stage. They didn't even make the audience scream out for an encore when they ripped into their most-streamed song, "Mary on a Cross".

The production value was as incredible as advertised. The costumes alternately recalled an upscale Halloween party, the orgy scene from Eyes Wide Shut, and an Aztec version of Bram Stoker's Daft-Punk. The screen behind the band resembled stained-glass satanic church windows until they were seemingly burned to a crisp by the flame machines on the stage. Eventually, a lava-floored Hellscape was revealed as the band played "He Is."


Beyond the fire and brimstone, there is also a certain amount of cheese to their spectacle. During "Mummy Dust," one of the masked performers started shredding on an honest-to-goodness keytar, and in one of the between-song chats with the audience, Forge said, "I wish I could jump in there and give you all a foot massage. Instead, you can all get a kiss," before they powered into "Kiss the Go-Goat."

Toward the end of the night, Tobias Forge expressed his gratitude for the audience's enthusiasm, before adding, "Not a shitty way to spend a Sunday night, huh?" The crowd concurred. For the finale of "Square Hammer," fans from the crowd were streamed in high definition, having the time of their lives. Confetti flew from the rafters, and the whole extravaganza was over by 10 p.m.

Who knew the devil had an early curfew?        

Setlist:

Peacefield
Lachryma
Spirit
Per Aspera ad Inferi
From the Pinnacle to the Pit
Call Me Little Sunshine
The Future Is a Foreign Land
Devil Church
Cirice
Darkness at the Heart of My Love
Satanized
Stand by Him
Umbra
Year Zero
He Is
Rats
Kiss the Go-Goat
Mummy Dust
Monstrance Clock
Mary on a Cross
Dance Macabre
Square Hammer