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Ghost (Linköping, Sweden)
Volbeat (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Twin Temple (Los Angelas, CA)

Full Gallery : Smugmug

Papa Emeritus IV made his inaugural visit to Ball Arena in bone-chilling Denver, CO Wednesday night, accompanied by his group of recently rethreaded Nameless Ghouls. Ghost recently began their co-headlining tour with Volbeat to support their fifth full length album release “IMPERA”, due out March 11th.

Twin Temple opened the show with what I would describe as The Ronnettes meets Satan meets Feminism kind of energy, and I was there for it. The LA band had a performance ritual, swords, a song named “Let’s Have A Satanic Orgy” and a fine saxophone solo. As I have told people for years, don’t skip the opening band! This is how I learned about Ghost in 2012, they opened for Mastodon!

*Alexandra and Zachary James of Twin Temple*

Volbeat came out next, opening with “Seal the Deal”, riff heavy and massive energy right from the jump. The band was tight and sounded strong, out on this tour supporting their 8th studio album “Servant Of The Mind” which came out late last year. They dipped into the new tracks with “Temple of Ekur” early into the set. A full setlist will be toward the bottom of the article.

Walking through the back halls of Ball Arena to get from the media area to the floor, I could hear “Miserere mei, Deus” and instantly I had goosebumps. Once closer to the stage, the faint smell of incense and the feeling of anticipation.

Eventually the house lights dropped and the sheet covering the stage dropped. “Kaisarion” started the set with a fast paced, almost poppy song that definitely speaks to the Cardinal Copia / Papa Emeritus IV era of Ghost, followed by Prequelle’s “Rats”.

The set list was a proper collection of old and new material, because it’s still Tobias Forge so classics like “Ritual” and “Year Zero” will always be around no matter which outfit, mask or number Papa is wearing.