The main reason why Wes & I ended up in Nebraska was to see Ghost in concert. [Who knows why they chose to play in the middle of nowhere in the Midwestern United States, but they did... and I'm pretty sure they didn't enjoy it. Don't feel bad, Nameless Ghouls, I didn't like Nebraska, either.] Back in August of 2021, Wes found out that Ghost would be touring in 2022. Ghost is the last band on his "must see live" list so, obviously, we'd have to attend a concert. The closest they'd be playing to Oklahoma was Texas, but those shows were on dates that conflicted with Wes's job's blackout dates so he wouldn't be able to take time off work. The next closest concert venue was the Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, NE. We haven't travelled to Nebraska so we thought this might be a fun opportunity to cross another state off our bucket list.
The concert was great! 🤘 I have never heard of Ghost, so to prepare myself, I added them to Pandora and listened to a bunch of their songs. This is the same strategy I took before we went to see Judas Preist and Iron Maiden. LOL Of the three, I'd say I enjoyed Ghost more than Iron Maiden but not as much as Judas Priest. Wes loved it!! He said they played all of the songs he wanted to hear (except for maybe 2 but he knew they wouldn't play those songs anyway).
The opening band for the concert was Twin Temple. They're a jazz/rockabilly duo who's show reenacted fake & silly satanic ritual. They came out and anointed us in the name of Satan, then sang a few cheesy songs (with lyrics that included, "let's all love Satan," "I'm evil" and chanted 666), then closed with another cult-like ritual. It was pretty terrible, extremely weird and overall cringeworthy. Wes said the performance was supposed to be a gag, like a Saturday Night Live skit. The only good part about them was their saxophonist, who was really talented and made me wonder why he's working with them. LOL
After that disaster, the real show started. The tour featured Ghost and Volbeat, but Wes didn't tell me that it was a double headliner show. I spent all my time listening to/familiarizing myself with Ghost and didn't know a single one of Volbeat's songs. I didn't even know that Volbeat was a band until they came on stage. (Yes, I'm a terrible "fan".) Volbeat was SO GOOD! They were loud but not screamy (like other rock/metal bands), they were super fun on stage and smiled & waved a lot, and I actually liked them more than Ghost.
They had a large screen that showed videos that went along with their songs. The best one was a song dedicated to the lead singer's wife and children that had random mixed media collages. The other one that was really good was the song dedicated to the lead singer's late father. Sadly, I don't remember the names to these songs, but I took lots of pictures. LOL Other thoughts - One of the bandmates looked like an older rock & roll version of AJ from the Backstreet Boys. They brought out a jazz pianist and saxophonist for one of their songs and jazz metal became my new favorite thing. Volbeat cured my stomach virus. I felt terrible all day up until about their third or fourth song.
I enjoyed Volbeat so much that I decided to start listening to their music when we got home. I have to admit they are amazing live but awful on the radio. Wes says that they are overly produced on their albums, but the lead singer has such a good voice so that makes it really unnecessary. I completely agree. The singles I heard sounded like Puddle of Mudd, Staind, and all the other disgusting rock bands I don't like. I am so glad I saw them in concert first.
At a little after 10pm, Ghost came on. The arena was pretty empty (maybe a little over half capacity) until then. It filled up a bit but there definitely wasn't the crowd that the band was expecting. I think that affected their vibe and energy of the show. Ghost's "gimmick" is that the lead singer is the leader of a band of nameless/faceless ghouls. Everyone in the band is covered from head to toe in costume. The lead singer is, too, and he wears face paint and a latex mask. I loved the ghouls--they interacted a lot with the crowd and played around with each other--but I kind of felt bad for them. Their costumes and gas masks seemed super uncomfortable under the stage lights and pyrotechnics. The lead singer told us that after the show, instead of partying, he'd be taking a violent shower. I totally would, too! LOL
The lead singer had a few costume changes. My favorite was a glittery teal tuxedo jacket. He wore bat wings in one of his costumes but didn't flap his arms like a bat, which was a little disappointing. I enjoyed all of the lasers and confetti. One of the confetti cannons shot out fake bills with the ghouls' faces printed on along with gold confetti. I tried to catch one of the bills but couldn't grab one. 😞 I was also really close to getting a guitar pick but it landed right next to the woman I was standing next to's foot and I didn't want to fight her for it. LOL
They played all their popular songs (which I actually knew, thanks to my pre-concert research). They played Wes's favorite songs of theirs and he really enjoyed the concert. His only complaint was that they played a cover of Metallica's "Enter Sandman," which is funny because he loves Metallica so I would think he'd enjoy the cover. I hate Metallica and even I enjoyed it. 😂 We both thought the setlist was a little short. I think they only played ten songs. They did tell us that they were running short on time in the middle of the show. They implied that it was the fault of city curfew, but I think they weren't having as much fun performing for us as they usually do in bigger cities, so no encore. Even with the abridged setlist, Wes & I had a good time and enjoyed the show. And now, Ghost is a regular feature on my Pandora station.
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