7 October 2023 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre – words by Gabrielle Ross – pictures by Tam Schilling
The atmosphere crackled with long awaited excited anticipation as the congregation of GHOST fans filed into the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. A fairly more grandiose venue in capacity to the iconic Tivoli, where GHOST performed their last show in Brisbane in 2019, punters came dressed in their best GHOST costumes and merch showing their passion for the Swedish theatrical rock band and ready to experience the full GHOST experience!
Opening the show, proudly represented with the First Nations flag, was “the most isolated heavy metal band in the world” Southeast Desert Metal! Hailing from Ltyentye Apurte/Santa Teresa in Australia’s Northern Territory it was quite the treat to see an Indigenous/Australian metal band step up as the opening act for an arena tour with their unique blend of classic metal mixed with spiritual and cultural influences and stories. Ripping straight into their tight set packed with a number of songs from their discography, including ‘Desert Metal’, ‘The Giant’ and their newest song ‘Boogeyman!’ Southeast Desert Metal impressed punters with their galloping guitar leads and vocals from Chris Wallace, thunderous bass by Richard Furber, crashing drums courtesy of Robert Wallace and the deliciously expertly played riffs by Gavin Hayes! Finishing on a strong and meaningful note with their song ‘Break The Silence’ Southeast Desert Metal left the Brisbane Entertainment Centre that evening with a plethora of new Australian fans and an epic finish to their supporting tour.
The ambient chime of church hymn’s filled the Brisbane Entertainment Centre as GHOST prepared for their Brisbane ritual. As the opening bars of the upbeat ‘Kaisarion’ filled the soundscape, the white curtain dropped revealing the Nameless Ghouls ready to rock our socks off! With a firework explosion of sparks, Papa Emeritus IV (Tobias Forge), ran and skipped onto the stage to begin ‘The Clergy’s’ ritual and to caress punters with his velvet vocals. Ripping straight into ‘Rats’ and ‘From the Pinnacle to the Pit’, fans were hit with a barrage of riffs and high octane energy from Papa IV and the insanely talented Nameless Ghouls.
The theatrics were incredible, giant stained glass windows with depictions of previous Papa Emeritus’ incarnations set the scene while eight Nameless Ghouls took command of the space and podiums clad in their Steam-punk inspired garments and delivering hilarious stage antics. This gave GHOST’S entire performance a leg up, the ritual was a feast for the eyes and ears and is truly awe-inspiring and entertaining to boot, making the monolith set list of 19 songs go by in the flick of Papa IV tailcoats.
Papa IV paused briefly to address his Brisbane fans by delivering an anecdote about this ritual being his last and to put an ice cube down his pants (so you knew it was the ice cube and not him peeing himself) before launching into ‘Spillways’, ‘Cirice’, ‘Absolution’ and ‘Ritual’. There was many a costume change throughout the entire 19 song set as Papa IV emerged during the first bars of ‘Call Me Little Sunshine’ in another new unholy garb, truly as stylish as he is talented! ‘Con Clavi con Dio’ and ‘Watcher in the Sky’ followed before the goosebump-inducing eargasm that is ‘Year Zero’ and then the softer and more lyrical ‘He Is’.
No theatrical act was left untouched for this insane show, ‘Miasma’ had Papa Nihil resurrected out of a glass coffin, complete with sparks, to take part with an iconic sax solo before being rolled off stage in the very same coffin. ‘Mary on a Cross’ and ‘Mummy Dust’ followed along with a key-tar solo from one of the female Nameless Ghouls and a rain of shimmering gold “Mummy Dust” and an ear shattering cheer from fans! An epic false finish on ‘Respite on the Spitalfields’ had fans screaming for an encore before Papa IV came out to address punters and to deliver another anecdote in his “after show jacket”. His one last trick was to transform his “after show jacket” into his “encore jacket” before beginning with the groovy ‘Kiss the Go-Goat!’ Continuing with the feel-good grooves Papa IV asked us if we are wearing our dancing shoes because “We are gonna dance Muther f**ers!” and launching into ‘Dance Macabre’ amidst a rainbow lighting scape, rainbow confete and dancing Nameless Ghouls.
An explosive classic rock finale of ‘Square Hammer’ launched fans into overdrive as sparks flew and the stained glass backdrop changed into a demonic scene, Papa IV donned his last outfit change of the night as his vocals filled the soundscape and Nameless Ghouls performed insane riffs. Sparks rained down as GHOST closed their final Australian Headliner show with an electric bang!
