Recently, Swedish spook superstars Ghost performed two special, historic shows at the Forum in Inglewood, California, featuring a beefed up version of their famously extravagant stage show and even a debut for fan favourite Impera cut, Twenties. The second show was also notable in that it enforced a ban on mobile phones during the performance, leading many to speculate that the traditional, end-of-cycle despatching of Ghost frontman Papa Emeritus may come into play (it didn't: Papa IV is still alive and kicking).
In a brand new, exclusive interview with Metal Hammer, available to read in full from this Thursday, Ghost leader and band mastermind Tobias Forge reveals that not only were the shows the best of his career, but they were also used as part of an exciting future film project.
“When I first started putting it together, I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m going to faint because there’s so much to think about,’" Forge says of the shows' impressive production. "Then it was, like, ‘No, no, just don’t think about it at all.’”
“I have never seen a crowd interact the way that they did since I was in a club band,” he adds. “They were the best shows I’ve ever done with Ghost, just because I didn’t have to see those fucking mobile phones.”
Forge goes on to confirm that the video cameras present as part of the shows' production were being used to film segments for an upcoming Ghost film, which is something he has hinted at wanting to make happen in the past,
“We were essentially shooting a film," he states. "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 LA shows] is going to be part of this project."
When asked if the Ghost film will be similar to Metallica's Through The Never, which combined dazzling concert footage with a fictional plot played out in between live segments, Forge replies rather cryptically: "In the sense that it’s a concert with something else combined."
While Forge wouldn't be pressed for further details, it seems clear that his ambitions for Ghost are showing no signs of slowing down. Read the rest of Metal Hammer's exclusive interview with Tobias Forge in the brand new issue of Metal Hammer magazine, out this Thursday, October 12.
