Ghost 2025 (MEO Arena)

I’ve been a fan of Ghost since I found their first record. I think I actually discovered Opus Eponymous around the time Infestissumam came out, so I was a little late but not by much.

What sold me

Tracks like Con Clavi Con Dio and Ritual sold me on the soundscape immediately. It’s proto-heavy metal. It takes cues from the Arthur Brown school of “I AM THE GOD OF HELLFIRE” theatrics and filters it through Blue Öyster Cult riffs and Satanic liturgy. And I know there’s discourse online about the campiness being a problem, but to me it’s very clearly deliberate and it’s half the charm. Ghost would be a worse band if they took themselves completely seriously.

Tobias Forge deserves his flowers

What I appreciate about Tobias Forge is the path he took to get here. This isn’t some guy who stumbled into a gimmick. He played live guitar for Onkel Kånkel at some point, a tasteless Swedish punk act that translates roughly to “Uncle Dingle and His Dingleberries.” He fronted Repugnant under the alias Mary Goore, a proper Stockholm death metal band that put out demos in the early 2000s and only got their debut album Epitome of Darkness released posthumously in 2006. That record is legitimately great death metal.

Then there was Subvision, an indie rock project that almost had him take a completely different path. They recorded a full album, had press releases out, and the whole thing just fell through. If that record had landed, we might never have gotten Ghost.

The man has street cred. He just chose to dress it up in papal robes and write songs your mom could hum.

Meliora is still the one

Meliora was and still is my favorite Ghost record. The songwriting on that album is on another level. Cirice alone won them a Grammy, and rightfully so. From the Pinnacle to the Pit is basically a funk riff dressed in metal clothes. That track was apparently written on a bass, and as a bass player I believe it, because the low end drives that song harder than the guitars do.

So hearing those songs live was something I’d been waiting for.

The Skeletour

Ghost played the MEO Arena in Lisbon on April 29th 2025 as part of the Skeletour World Tour. Papa V Perpetua was the frontman this time around, allegedly the fraternal twin of Papa Emeritus IV. Classic Ghost lore.

They opened with taped intros of Jan Johansson’s Klara Stjärnor and Allegri’s Miserere Mei, Deus before kicking into Peacefield and Lachryma from the new Skeletá record.

But the Meliora block was the highlight for me. Spirit into From the Pinnacle to the Pit, then later Devil Church into Cirice, then He Is, and closing the main set with Mummy Dust. Six songs from one album scattered across the set and each one hit.

What surprised me was how much the live versions improved songs from albums I hadn’t connected with as strongly before. Prequelle tracks like Rats and Dance Macabre have a different energy in an arena. Same with Call Me Little Sunshine from Impera. Those records clicked for me in a way they hadn’t at home.

Speaking of Impera, that album had Fredrik Åkesson from Opeth playing all the guitars in the studio. And honestly, you can hear it. The lead work on that record has a precision and flair that goes beyond what Ghost had done before. Mikael Åkerfeldt also played acoustic guitar on the Prequelle instrumental Helvetesfönster. The Opeth connection runs deep and it makes total sense when you hear it.

The bass and the keytar

The Nameless Ghouls did their thing. The bass had that thick, dirty tone Ghost is known for live and it sat perfectly in the mix on songs like From the Pinnacle to the Pit and Mummy Dust, where the low end really carries the groove.

But the moment that got me was the Ghoul on keytar. There’s something about watching a masked figure in robes shredding a keytar that just works. It’s ridiculous and awesome in equal measure. The keyboard parts on songs like Year Zero and Cirice went from background texture to a proper spectacle when performed on a keytar front and center.

Hendricks and the phone pouches

Before the show we hit a Gin & Tonic stand sponsored by Hendrick’s. They had some limited edition variety on offer. We got these big glasses so we kept it at one each and just enjoyed each other’s presence for a moment before the chaos started. A really nice way to start the evening.

At the door they gave everyone Yondr pouches for their phones. You keep the pouch but it’s locked until you leave. I was skeptical at first but honestly? It works. It completely changes the atmosphere. Almost everyone in the crowd had their hands up instead of holding a screen. People actually watched the band. Eyes on the stage at all times. It felt like going to a show in 2005 again, before everyone started experiencing concerts through a 6-inch rectangle.

I think more bands should do this.

A good night

I had a fantastic evening with my partner. Ghost put on one of those shows where you walk out buzzing and keep talking about it on the drive home. Meliora tracks live, new songs from Skeletá that actually hold up, and just enough theatrics to remind you that this is a band that understands showmanship without letting it overshadow the music.

They closed the encore with Square Hammer and the whole arena sang along. Hard to beat that.