Together As One: A Night With Ghost and Their Faithful

Photo: Mikael Eriksson

The Jubilee line is loud today. It’s not just the rattle of the carriages or the screeching of the tube train as it races through London’s subterranean recesses — there are boozed-up lads singing football chants and puffer-jacketed finance bros tapping away at tablets amid the usual mundane chatter that chips away at the ears. It’s a grind. 

But at North Greenwich station, things start to tilt. Among the otherwise unremarkable crowd, a young person with ghoulish face paint sticks out like a sore thumb. Dressed in black, a Ghost plushie held tight to their stomach, they’re here for something extraordinary. So are roughly 20,000 others who have made the pilgrimage to the O2 Arena to witness the greatest satanic pantomime on the planet. 

A week before their highly anticipated new album ‘Skeletá’ arrives, the third night of the Skeletour brings palpable excitement as Ghost heads get to hear new songs live for the first time while catching a glimpse of the freshly unveiled Papa Emeritus V, the latest in a line of alter-egos sported by the pop-metallers’ leader Tobias Forge. More than six hours before showtime, the energy is fizzing. Zombie Popes, Undead Nuns and numerous imitations of the band’s Nameless Ghouls mill around. It feels like more than a concert — it feels devotional. 

At a nearby bar, the old guard headbang and air-drum to Ozzy Osbourne’s Bark at the Moon while sinking mid-afternoon pints. Across the way, teens race to the merch stand. One kid is literally doing star jumps to regulate her excitement as her dad watches on in gales of laughter. He’s just as excited to be there as she is.

As stage time draws closer the anticipation reaches boiling point. An ominous purple glow encompasses the room and a solemn Latin hymn plays through the speakers, haunting the arena. With no opener and phones banned for this tour, all the focus is on Papa’s arrival. When the lights go down he is shielded behind a giant veil as Ghost launch into Peacefield. It’s a new song — nobody knows the words, nor its wider context — but just as a priest holds the attention of their congregation, the Ghost fanatics hang on every word of this most unholy rock ‘n’ roll sermon. 

As the curtain drops, Papa Emeritus V struts to the centre of the stage and bellows the chorus. Next up is the recently-released Lachryma and the band’s intentions become clear — new Papa, new album and, ultimately, a new era. As any seasoned arena rock band would, they leave bankers such as Mary on a Cross and Square Hammer to the very end but, overall, the setlist feels purposeful. 

While introducing The Future is a Foreign Land, Forge briefly drops the facade and acknowledges the turmoil of the modern world. The song envisages a fascist uprising and the destruction of Earth through nuclear warfare. But, tonight, he makes a small yet important adjustment. Where he would normally sing, “Let us pray for more for 2024”, he updates the lyrics to 2034.  

Where the world feels divided and unmoored — doom-scroll through the rise of far-right politics, countless wars, Donald Trump, or changes in British law marginalising the trans community — much of the setlist tonight preaches unity. The last song before the hit-filled encore is Monstrance Clock, a fan favourite from the album ‘Infestissumam’. The crowd roars: “Come together, together as one — come together, for Lucifer’s son.”

Setting any lingering sense of Satanic Panic aside for a moment and scratching off the top layer of theatre, the message will be important to a lot of people out there. Tonight the O2 — essentially a big dome with a plastic arena inside — feels like a temple, where people from all kinds of demographics can come together, wear nun costumes, rock out and accept one another unconditionally as the world burns down.

Outside, the faithful pour back into the station, all smiles. Some of the bars are still blasting Dance Macabre long into the night.

There are a lot of weirdos here. It’s beautiful.

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