16TH November 2019

Ghost or Ghost B.C (Their name in the United States) are a Swedish rock band that formed in 2006.

Since then they have been honing their craft as songwriters and live performers. Over the previous thirteen years they have pretty much paid their dues by playing the grubbiest and smallest venues and working their way up the pecking order.

During that time, they even started to perform at festivals accepting appearances low down on the bill at events such as the prestigious Download festival.

More recently they were the support band for none other than the mighty Metallica. On the back of that they launched into their own headlining arena tour entitled the “Ultimate tour named death”.

Over the years, Ghost have managed to entertain fans with their live shows in small venues and it worked exceptionally well. However, when they announced an arena tour questions were raised as to whether their show is transferable to the bigger venues. There were certainly doubts as to how their performance could possibly work in the larger venues.

Ghost have built a reputation for being easily recognisable live because of their eccentric (sometimes spooky) on stage presence. Most of the band wear face concealing costumes and are called ‘Nameless Ghouls’, however there are rumours that they have female instrumentalists and so include ‘Ghoulettes’. The only person whose face is recognisable is the lead vocalist (Tobias Forge) although he takes on the part of a spooky almost demonic character called Cardinal Copia. Over the years this character has gone through various changes, previous characters have included Papa Emeritus I, Papa Emeritus II, and Papa Emeritus III, all with different face make up and with a full background story.

This mystique of the nameless ghouls and ghoulettes has helped Ghost stand out form the plethora of bands that are currently touring. However, any touring band would soon fade away if it relied purely on the visual aspects. Thankfully, Ghost can write songs that really hit the mark. Which gained them an accolade from music magazine Kerrang! for their song “Ritual” Kerrang! Voted “Ritual” as one of “The 50 Most Evil Songs Ever”.

Whilst the adoring crowd at Motorpoint Arena were waiting for their satanic heroes to arrive on stage, the music being played over the house pa system sounded very spiritual, (I think it was ‘Miserere Mei, Deus’). Unlike other rock music gigs where the band play an intro to rev the crowd up, Ghost appeared to be setting the fans up for a chilled-out evening.

Moments before the band arrived on stage, “Ashes” is played as their intro music which starts of with a haunting rendition of “Ring a Ring o’ Roses”, the curtain dropped to reveal a set designed to look like the inside of a place of worship, with a backdrop of three huge pretend stain glass windows depicting the previous characters from Ghost.

This sent the worshipping crowd into a wave of frenzied swaying and headbanging. From here on in, Ghost had the congregation eating out of the palm of their hands. Vocalist Tobias Forge moving around the stage in a very spooky fashion, every move carefully coordinated to add to the spiritual atmosphere. Whilst moving around the stage the other nameless ghouls and ghoulettes were also moving around the stage to create a visual spectacle that was very surreal.

Ghost had clearly come to prove that they are a tour de force when it comes to live shows, sure enough, the high-octane pace was delivered throughout the entire evening.

The band made it obvious that this tour was about promoting their most recent album “Prequelle” and their setlist was heavily influenced with tracks from that particular album songs such as “Ashes”, “Rats”, “Faith”, “Miasma” and “Dance Macabre” all demonstrating how talented the band are at creating disturbingly heavy rock songs with a devilish twist.

During “Miasma” the band brought out Papa Nihil, a shade wearing, saxophone playing band member to bring the song to an end. Throughout the evening there were lots of visual treats which link to historical things that have occurred in Ghosts history things like coming out on stage on a tricycle. (Almost reminiscent of the film Saw).

This was one of those live shows that had everything, a music fan could wish for. Great music, entwined with a world class theatrical performance not only from vocalist Tobias, but from the nameless ghouls and ghoulettes as well. Throughout the evening they all get a chance to take centre stage, including an amusing tongue in cheek duel between two of the guitarists. From high speed guitar solos to the more sedated choral chants. This is rock music for the masses.

When it comes to playing live, Ghost appear to be one of the bands that are focused solely on providing the fans with a great night’s worth of entertainment and incredible music. Even the use of confetti canons is used to such good effect during “Mummy Dust”. Any other band trying to do what Ghost do, would just come across as tacky. However, Ghost worked it into their live performance without it ever being tacky.

Tobias Forge commanded the congregation of adoring fans with his melodic vocals, and Freddie Mercury like stage presence. The interaction with the fans was reminiscent of the way Metallicas James Hetfield engages the audience. Making them all feel like they are part of the family. (Maybe Ghost picked up some tips after supporting Metallica).

Thankfully, all the raised questions and fears regarding Ghosts ability to make the step up to arenas have been answered. Ghost not only can hold their own in terms of big shows, but they took the challenge and raised the bar to a point where only a handful of bands can match them.

Dare I say, that it would be no surprise to see Ghost headlining the main stage at Download Festival in the next few years.

Review & Photographs by Luke Seagrave

Motorpoint Arena

A Star is Born This Way a stage show performed by Donna Marie as a tribute to Lady Gaga, covering all of Lady Gaga’s hits as well as some of the songs from the film “A Star is Born”.

Covering an artiste such as Lady Gaga is always going to be an enormous task, both vocally and visually Lady Gaga is a unique talent. Thankfully Donna Marie, was able to bring some of that magic to Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena.

After going through the tedious task of queuing up to be searched, we were then directed to our seats. For this performance the stage had been moved to the far end of the arena, to create a more intimate feel.

The opening of the show tried to replicate the start of the film “A Star Is Born” by having a male singer/guitarist (Adam Kelbie) perform “Black Eyes” just like in the film. From this point on Adam and the lady Gaga impersonator Donna Marie covered most of the tracks from the film. However, the audience only really burst into life during the more popular hits from the film such as “Shallow” and “I’ll Never Love Again”.

Before Donna Marie returned for the second half of the show, there was a guest vocalist who had won a competition to sing to the audience, Charlotte Pearce from Stoke on Trent was given ten minutes to impress the crowd with her vocal talent. Her cover of Anastacia’s “Left Outside Alone” was certainly a great way to demonstrate her vocal prowess. Hopefully Charlotte might go on to be signed and record some material.

Donna Marie returned for the second half of the show, this part of the show was geared towards the megahits that Lady Gaga has recorded. Donna managed to do an impressive job of entertaining the audience with renditions of hits such as “Born This Way”, “Poker Face”, and “Bad Romance”. The audience appeared to react better to the songs during this part of the show than the first half.

My only criticism about this show were the gap fillers in between songs whilst Donna Marie was changing into different costumes, it just lost the flow of the show at times. But if you see some of the costumes it is easy to understand why those gap fillers were necessary.

Donna Marie is a tribute act worth going to see live, a good entertaining evening with incredible music.

Review by Luke Seagrave

Mansfield Palace Theatre 26^th Oct 2019

In a world full of Meat Loaf tribute acts, there is one tribute that has been doing the rounds since 1993. Steve Steinman has taken the art of being a tribute act to the highest level over the last two decades. After an appearance on the tv show “Stars in Their Eyes” in 1993 as Meat Loaf, Steve started working all the pubs and clubs with his tribute act.

Fast forward to 2019, and he has taken it from a one man show and developed it into an all out balls to the wall, turn it up to eleven, rock music extravaganza, with a full stage production that would make some west end productions feel inadequate. Employing a full ensemble of talented musicians and dancers as well as having a production team to keep touring year after year. This is no longer a tribute act but a whole new beast in stage production albeit with the magic of Meat Loafs music being the Centrepoint. This has turned into more than just a tribute act, it is the musical that Meat Loaf never had.

For 2019, Steve had managed to rope in the vocal talents of female vocalist Lorraine Crosby, (The original female vocalist on Meat Loafs “I’d Do Anything for Love” hit single.). However, the show would require more than just Lorraine’s impressive vocals to give the waiting fans value for money, who had parted with £26.50 for their tickets.

As the lights faded to black, the unmistakable sound of the motorbike intro on “I’d do Anything for Love” reverberated around the theatre. Just before the drums kicked in, the curtain parted to reveal the band. Steve strolled on stage to a rapturous round of applause as the vocals kicked in. From the opening notes Steve had got the audience eating out of the palm of his hands. During the instrumental that leads up to the female vocals, Lorraine walked out on stage and demonstrated why Meat Loaf wanted her vocals on that single. Even decades later Lorraine has managed to keep her vocal range intact. Absolute pleasure to hear her voice live.

From that point on, it was a whirlwind tour through some of Meat Loafs biggest hits. In between the songs there was tongue in cheek dialogue, with great interaction from the crowd. It is the interaction and dialogue that sets Steve Steinman apart from all the other tribute acts, this is more of a stage show designed to showcase the incredible music of Meat Loaf rather than being a pure tribute to the rock star. Even to the point of the band extending “You Took the Words Right Out of my Mouth” because the audiences clapping went out of time with the drums, so the entire band chipped in to get the audience back on track.

Having a vocalist as talented as Lorraine sharing vocal duties, it was only a matter of time before she took centre stage and was allowed to belt out hits such as “It’s all Coming Back to me Now” and “Holding out for a Hero” without the assistance of any other vocalists.

Throughout the two and half hours, Steve and Lorraine had ploughed through the back catalogue of Jim Steinman’s and Meat Loafs creations, songs such as “Paradise by the Dashboard Light”, “Life is a Lemon”, “For Crying Out Loud” and of course the show closer “Bat Out of Hell” were all delivered with the force of a tropical storm amidst a stunning lighting display armed with pyrotechnics throughout the show.

The beauty of this stage production lies within the fundamental aim, which is to celebrate the magic of Meat Loafs music rather than to try and be Meat Loaf. And there is no doubt that Steve Steinman’s “Anything for Love” production brings the magic of Meat Loafs songs to life. With the help of incredibly talented musicians and backing dancers this becomes a tour de force of live music. Much more than just an average tribute act!

Sadly, if you missed this production, then you will be waiting quite sometime before it comes back to Mansfield. Despite performing in Mansfield for 17 years, unfortunately Mansfield Palace theatre won’t be having “Anything for Love” back in the next few years due to the venue allegedly being that busy. So if you are eager to catch one of these productions, You could catch either Vampires Rock in February at Mansfield Palace Theatre in February (They play the odd Meat Loaf song) or make the trek to Nottingham Arena on May 29^th 2020 for “Anything For Love” with the Bad for Good orchestra for a night of rock anthems from the mighty Meat Loaf repertoire.

A fabulous night out and great value for money.

Review by Luke Seagrave

Photographs by Luke Seagrave