On Wednesday, my wife and I left work a little early in order to travel to Omaha, Nebraska (about an hour and a half away) to see Ghost perform at Sokol Auditorium with Tribulation as their opening act. Tribulation's most recent album was my Album of the Year and Ghost is coming off of a Grammy win, so I was fairly excited to see both bands.
I believe all of Tribulation's songs were off of their Children of the Night album, which really is a terrific album. Their music was terrific, dynamic and powerful. The band members were really into it as well, in particularly one of the two guitarists who was all over the stage, shrieking like a wild animal. They played for about half an hour and included some of my favorite tracks from their latest album. It was an impressive performance, though it annoyed my wife.
Ghost took the stage soon afterwards, after a long lead-up with some church choir vocal recording. It was quite obvious that they have been building a large fan base as a large crowd gathered around the stage, many of whom were not in attendance during Tribulation's performance. A number of people were also sporting makeup similar to Papa Emeritus. Some were even wearing a mockup of priests' robes and collars. One person had rubber goat horns strapped to his head.
The musicians of Ghost had their customary black robes and demon masks, concealing their identities. Papa Emeritus emerged from the blackness shortly thereafter dressed in his customary evil pope robe and mitre. He stayed in that costume for about the first half of the concert, but did eventually ditch the mitre and robe. I don't know if that is normal for him, but it was hot in the auditorium.
Ghost played a good cross-section from all three of their major albums. Of course "Cirice" was performed and drew a big applause from the crowd. Ghost were terrific performers and Papa Emeritus was very charismatic and interesting to watch. My wife enjoyed this concert quite a bit. As did I. I was somewhat skeptical at one point about seeing Ghost. I have enjoyed their albums, though they have not been particular favorites of mine. But they were so impressive live, that I have achieved a new appreciation for them.
