About 13 months ago I was excited to go across the country for my second Maryland Deathfest in Baltimore, MD. The line up was already stacked and it seemed like it could not get any better with bands like Impaled Nazarene, Inquisition, Doom, Cathedral, Cianide, Repugnant, and Goatsnake. I have to admit Goatsnake was a huge reason I decide to go again. Due to some issues they were unable to make the fest and I was bummed. Then the fest organizers announced that they would have a replacement band within a couple days. To every ones amazement they added Ghost.
This made perfect sense seeing that the Death/Thrash Metal band Repugnant was preforming as well. A little side note, Ghost is Repugnant. If you doubt this, check out the Swedish Indie Rock band Subvision, also the same vocalist. With Repugnant playing during Sunday afternoon, it was only right for Ghost to close out MDF 9. They took the stage early Monday morning right after midnight absolutely killed it.
Fast forward 13 months they added a Las Vegas date to their second U.S. tour since May last year.
Traffic on the way to Mandalay Bay was crazy. After downing a few beers and some green in the parking garage we literally got their just in time for the show which started at 6:30 PM. The place was already packed and 24oz cans of beer were $12. Ghost's performance was amazing. They definitely put on a show with the whole band dressed in black cloaks and good ole Papa Emeritus in his satanic pope outfit. The set was only about 35 mins but they covered most songs from their debut album. It was pretty clear that everyone come out for the Ghost. The other two bands didn't receive the same reaction from the audience and were quite boring in my opinion.
I hope they return with a headlining tour because 35 mins was just not enough. In Maryland they played everything to their name including a chilling cover of the Beatles's Here Comes the Sun.
Oh yeah, the sound was on point, good job HoB.