Who’d have thought that all it would take to kill the infamous Dutch Disease was a total ban of mobile phones at an arena show? Because that’s pretty much what Ghost achieved when their behemoth Skeletour show rocked into Amsterdam for the band’s biggest Dutch headline show to date. Some 15,000 fans descended upon Amsterdam’s Bijlmer ArenA for a two hour demonstration on how to put on the perfect rock-slash-metal show, a world away from their haunting gig at the Melkweg some eleven years ago. For this show (and the entire tour), Ghost placed a complete ban on mobile phones, a decision which allowed everyone in the room to really be in the moment. And with the absence of phones, the abundance of attention from the crowd even killed the infamous Dutch Disease for a couple of hours. A miracle.
The Skeletour may be in support of grandiose new album Skeletá, but you wouldn’t have guessed it based on a set list which greatly underrepresents the sixth instalment in Ghost’s story. Four songs from the record made an appearance in the cavernous Ziggo Dome, standing out in a show which drew from across a vast back catalogue of menacing hard rock, Def Leppard-esque classic rock and enough satanism to feed an entire cult for life. Jack Parker was there to capture proceedings, and returned with the below gallery.
