On a chilly, dark November evening Boy Child chauffeured myself, Mr A and a new addition to the group, Master C, through the mania of the M8 rush hour traffic towards Glasgow’s SSE Hydro arena.

We arrived slightly later than planned but still safely ahead of the doors opening.

So, who were we braving the biting cold to see?

Ghost!

Boy Child and I have seen them a couple of times but this was to be Mr A and Master C’s first “ritual”.

Luck was on our side and we secured a clear view just one row off the rail. Happy days!

I suspect I may have jinxed us as far as support acts go. During the journey to the venue, I had commented that over the years we’d been really lucky with the calibre of the support acts at shows we’ve attended…….

Personally, I feel quite strongly that if you buy tickets to a show, you go for the whole show. Remember the headliners were once the first support act with the six song/30-minute slot……just an observation.

However, our luck ran out a bit here.

There were two support acts …. let’s just leave that thought there while I adopt my “Thumper Philosophy of Gig Reviews” – “if you can’t say nuffin’ nice, don’t say nuffin’ at all.”

Moving swiftly along.

Gregorian chants rang out over the sizeable crowd, the lights dimmed. In front of us, a plain black curtain shielded the entire stage from view. Gradually, the chanting faded and the haunting instrumental Ashes echoed out before the curtain dropped to reveal the Nameless Ghouls in all their masked glory in a cathedral setting. They opened the set with Rats and as the intro ended, looking resplendent in a scarlet suit, front man Tobias Forge, descended the wide staircase centre stage and instantly had the Scottish fans in the palm of his gloved hand.

Absolution and Faith followed – awesome start to the ritual.

A couple of songs later we were treated to the majestic, soaring instrumental Devil Church but with a Scottish twist as the Nameless Ghouls added a reprise of The Proclaimers’ 500 Miles – if only Cardinal Copia had led the Scottish rock choir in a chorus or two …. maybe next time.

This is perhaps a good moment to mention the current gathering of Nameless Ghouls. There are seven of them on stage this tour and the personalities of the guitar wielding ghouls in particular is shining through. We were treated to a playful and theatrical guitar duel which like several of the instrumentals on the set distracted the fans from the fact that the front man wasn’t on stage. Most of these covered his costume changes as the suit changed from red to white to the cardinal’s robes and finally to a black suit to match the ghouls. But I digress.

Miasma, another instrumental, was perhaps one of the highlights of this twenty-song set. Who could resist Papa Nihil on sax?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EObe7R-cask

After this, the set took a turn for the heavier/darker side as we heard the mighty From The Pinnacle To The Pit, Ritual, Satan Prayer and Year Zero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe_BX4ib2jY

The haunting Spoksonat played before Ghost performed my favourite – He Is. I love this song. Simply divine!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZhR1LgCubU

So, from the delicacy of that beautiful ballad, Tobias Forge/Cardinal Copia asked the fans if they were ready for something heavy. “Always” is the response from a Glasgow crowd, along with much chanting of “Here we, here we, here we f**king go” much to Ghost’s amusement. I’m a little disappointed the more mischievous ghouls didn’t join in with a musical accompaniment. Satisfied that the crowd could cope with a “f**king heavy song” next, Ghost played the thunderous Mummy Dust. Awesomeness!

Ghost were really pulling out all the stops. We’d seen flames, CO2 cannons, fireworks and gold confetti littered with “Ghost dollars”.

I had been minorly concerned about how well their show would transfer to the large arena. The last time Boy Child and I saw Ghost it had been at the late great O2 ABC that only held circa 1000 folk. Moving the show to the SSE Hydro was a marked and bold leap in venue size. My worries were unfounded. Although the show was far from sold out, these Swedish ghouls led by their Cardinal just created a bigger church for us all, albeit that it was lacking in incense and “Body and Blood”.

Everything about this show was slickly done but we’ve come to expect little else from Tobias Forge.

The “pop influenced” Kiss The Go-Goat followed. It was spectacular and well-executed but the jury is still out on this song for me, I’ll confess.

Dance Macabre rounded off the main set.

Having stepped off stage for a moment or two, Ghost returned to end the night with an incredible rendition of Squarehammer.

The ritual was at an end and, covered in coloured confetti, we departed from the venue feeling duly blessed.