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.
Papa Emeritus IV of Ghost
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.
Michael Poulsen of Volbeat
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.
One of the Nameless Ghouls of GhostTwin TempleVolbeat
Back in eight or ninth grade, I was in charge of holding the Sony Discman with surgeon-like precision (because it had zero skip protection) while riding shotgun as my brother drove the red Pontiac minivan to ski practice or school. This is where I first heard our borrowed copy of Nine Inch Nails’ “Pretty Hate Machine”. What was this music? Where could I get more? Who was behind it? That would be none other than Trent Reznor, and last night was the first time I would get to see Nine Inch Nails live.
Mumford and Sons returned to Minnesota, after quickly climbing the ranks of local venues through recent years. From the late 400 Bar on Cedar Ave, to the Varsity Theater in Dinky Town, onto the legendary First Avenue Main Room, and Wednesday night in the sold-out Xcel Energy Center of Saint Paul.
Ever since I ran across the movie Rock Prophecies on Netflix, I had been looking for Sick Puppies to come to Minnesota. They were discovered by iconic music photographer Robert M Knight, and brought over from Australia to be seen by some people he knew in the music industry because he thought they were something special. Being a band that formed in 1997, they had nine years under their collective belts before they took this big chance. I’m glad the people who saw them here decided to pick em up, otherwise I would have zero faith left in the music industry.
On a snowy March evening in St Paul, classic rock fans made their way to the Xcel Energy Center to see the genre-crossing Kid Rock and the timeless rocker, Bob Seger perform. This was not only a night to revel in some of Rock’s greatest songs, but also a time for the adults who were alive when the songs came out, to dip back into their bag or 70′s shenanigans and be troublemakers again.