★★★★☆
You have to try very hard to fuck up a concert film. You have to try even harder to make one which exceeds the expectations of a live movie, something which Ghost successfully achieve with 2 Big to Rig, their biggest theatrical release to date and one which shows us exactly why ‘epic’ is the bare minimum for these Swedes. 2 Big to Rig was filmed during the band’s Skeletour show in Mexico City last year, a tour in support of latest album Skeletá. Phones were infamously banned across the entire tour, and the resulting footage is all the more special for it. Not a phone in sight, everyone living in the moment.
2 Big to Rig is two hours of wall-to-wall Ghost bangers, in that spooky, lore-heavy way only Tobias Forge (aka Papa Perpetua) and his nine ghoulish bandmates know how. You had the ABBA-goes-glam rock of Dance Macabre and pounding closer Square Hammer juxtaposed with Year Zero’s satanic chanting, Umbra’s pedal-to-the-metal rhythms and the purely evil Cirice. And that’s to name just five. We see eighteen songs during this film, harking as far back as debut album cut Satan Prayer while also not forgetting the song which put Ghost in front of brand new (TikTok-based) audiences: Mary On a Cross. The stage production is Ghost’s most ambitious to date: pyro, confetti, a cameo from Jesus himself, and an enormous, 62 tonne inverted cross. A cross so heavy that it was, as one crew member puts it, “too big to rig“.
But what sets 2 Big to Rig apart from your standard concert film? Well, two things: the analogue-heavy cinematography and the crew interviews. Having everything look like it was filmed by analogue film cameras meant that – along with the absence of phones – this show could easily have taken place in the 1980s. Breaking away from the action every few songs for black & white chats with touring crew added a new element to proceedings as well. These interviews gave us an insight into just how much hard work is needed to put on this show, and it makes you appreciate it that little bit more. The Skeletour took a whole year of planning, with each show run by a crew of 105 people alongside 150 locals in every city. A monumental operation for two hours of music, and one which people don’t often stop and think about when they’re enjoying the show.
If you’re a fan of Ghost, you’ll love 2 Big to Rig. If you’re on the fence about the band and want to see what all the fuss is about, this is a great starting point for all things Ghost. And if you’re just in it for a well put together, vintage looking concert film, then you’re in the right place. Like we said, it’s hard to fuck up a live movie, but it’s even harder to make it stand out: Ghost have done just that.
2 Big to Rig is on IMAX for a limited time only. Check out your local cinema for listings. The pictures in this review are from the Amsterdam show of the Skeletour, essentially identical to the show seen on film. Shots by Jack Parker.
