Ghost @ Sweden Rock Festival 2023-06-10

Ghost is a band that always causes debate among hardrock fans – is it hard rock or not? Maybe not in my opinion and it is not something I normally listen to, but seeing them live is a completely different matter. I don’t really regard this as a concert – Ghost live on stage is more of a performance – an experience. I honestly like the aura and mystique that was built up around the band and I think it is a bit of a pity everyone now knows Tobias Forge is the man behind the band.

Tonight we got more or less exactly what I expected – the music is rather middle of the road and moves around the areas of AOR, progressive rock and pop. It is all very polished and professional nothing spectacular really – but the visual experience lifts the music to another level. Forge is very good at what he is doing, but I would actually prefer less talk between the songs to add to the mystique. It also gets a bit cringe when a Swedish singer, in a Swedish festival, mainly speaks English. And no – the number of “fucks” and “get the fuck out of here” do not make it less cringe.

But now I am picking for details – this was a good show. Visually among the best I have seen and even if the music maybe is slightly bland I think everyone had a great time.

Who: Ghost
Where: Sweden Rock Festival
When: 2023-06-10
Rate: 7/10