Ghost have announced the release of their first concert film Rite Here Rite Now.
The film will combine footage of the masked Swedish collective’s shows at The Forum in Los Angeles, California, last September with a narrative that continues the story of their long-running online ‘webisode’ series.
Rite Here Rite Now was directed Alex Ross Perry and band mastermind Tobias Forge, and will hit cinemas globally on June 20 and 22 only.
The trailer will be released on May 9, and tickets will become available to purchase on the same day at 2pm BST / 9am EDT / 6am PDT.
A soundtrack album will also become available to preorder on May 9.
Forge comments: “Over a decade ago when Ghost got signed to [current record label] Loma Vista, Tom Whalley (owner and CEO) asked what the story of the band was.
“He felt telling a story was vital in order to get new fans engaged.
“I said that because we were a new ‘baby’ band and more importantly we were an anonymous baby band, there wasn’t really a compelling story to tell.
“Not yet anyway.
“But I told him that if he wanted a story, I could come up with one.
“This film is the fruit of that conversation.”
Forge previously teased that Ghost would be releasing a film of last year’s Los Angeles shows in a 2023 interview with Metal Hammer.
“We were essentially shooting a film,” he said of the concerts. “And we used two nights of crowds as extras.
“It’s going to be a film with a concert element. So a lot of what you experienced [at the two L.A. shows] is going to be part of this project.”
When asked if the Ghost film would be similar to Metallica’s Through The Never, which combined concert footage with an action film-like narrative, Forge replied, “In the sense that it’s a concert with something else combined.”
Ghost released a cryptic teaser trailer for Rite Here Rite Now on social media last month.
The trailer depicted live footage of Papa Emeritus IV bowing and ended with the words, “Coming soon to cinemas worldwide.”
Ghost ended the touring cycle for their latest album, 2022’s Impera, with a string of Australian dates last October.
The concerts are expected to be the last time that fans will see Forge as the Papa Emeritus IV character, as the singer has always changed to a new persona between album cycles.
Forge, as Papa Emeritus IV, said onstage at the final Australian show in Brisbane on October 7: “This finale, it’s just going to be my last show, and I’m going to do my best to deliver that show to you. And that would just have to be enough, OK?”
In a March 2022 interview with Guitar.com, Forge revealed that he already had a plan for Ghost’s activities up to 2025.
This plan included what the followup to Impera will sound like and be titled, and when it will be released.
However, no concrete release date for the next album has been given and the band have not announced any future concerts at time of publication.
