Film & live album

Ghost are at the zenith of their unique career

With a lot of theatricality, good music and an overflowing self-confidence steadily on its way to the top: Swede Tobias Forge with his life project Ghost.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Loma Vista Recordings, Ryan Chang)

Just over a month ago, the Ghost film "Rite Here Rite Now" was released in cinemas, fulfilling a long-cherished dream of thoroughbred musician and band leader Tobias Forge. The band is now following up this successful product with a live soundtrack including a new song - and the general success continues unabated.

Ghost frontman Tobias Forge has often remarked, not only in past "Krone" interviews, that he can imagine much more with his life project than just a band that plays its way into the hearts of fans with music. There was talk of a full-length theater or an exciting Broadway show. Something that would combine heavy metal, hard rock, theatricality, drama and costume mumming in a way that the world had (almost) never seen before. Well, of course there was KISS, but even if their frontman Gene Simmons ended up being the more skillful businessman - Forge takes a much more serious and stringent approach to the content and plans congruently several years in advance.

Novel mixture
The Swede stalked supporters and potential financiers a long time ago in order to turn a project that was particularly important to him into reality: a film. Mind you, it's not just a recording of a concert, as that would be far too staid. "Rite Here Rite Now" - the title is a slightly modified version of a line from the hit song "Square Hammer" - is an interesting mixture that has never been seen before in this form. The final shows of the "Re-Imperatour" recorded in September 2023 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles serve as the basis, which were edited together in the typical live setting to create an experience and also include background noises such as explosive pyro effects, announcements and audience cheers.

This pompous live experience is interwoven with a loosely picked up, recurring story, the plot of which resourceful Ghost fans have been examining on the Internet for years. The lovingly and elaborately staged series features different chapters from the Ghost cosmos, which are intended to offer the exuberant whole of Ghost with the help of albums, songs, concerts and interviews as a holistic approach to the band. It gives you deeper insights into the individual characters beyond the usual band cosmos and allows you to immerse yourself in the nerdy but incredibly lovingly created world of Forge. In new parlance, we would probably speak of a holistic experience that results from the film, which was also shown briefly in selected cinemas just over a month ago.

A success for the heart
The reward for Forge's intensive efforts has more than paid off. The film immediately made it into the top 10 of the global cinema charts, and in Germany it even achieved a more than respectable third place. The film was shown in more than 1800 cinemas in 49 different countries within four days and grossed around five million US dollars, breaking new ground in the hard rock film segment. Forge was less surprised than pleased about this brilliant success in a statement: "Having wanted to make a movie most of my life, I was overwhelmed to see that our fans showed interest in the movie before it was even released. Now that people have not only seen it, but seem to like it, it really gets to my heart. Thank you all!"

With feedback like this, the success of this boyhood dream finally coming true can be savored even more, and Ghost have taken the next step in their unique career. Of course, it's no coincidence that they chose the L.A. concerts, which were accompanied by a strict ban on cell phones in the audience. Although Ghost (with the exception of Austria) can build on a respectable following in Europe, it is the Americans, who crave effects and stories, who have allowed Ghost to flourish to such an extent. The satanic-inspired concept with the music-making ghouls and various diabolical cardinals and popes has already become part of the everyday culture of American fans and triggered an unimaginable hype that has reached a temporary zenith here.

Next career chapter
A good month after the cinematic pleasure, the Loma Vista Recordings label also releases the accompanying soundtrack, which allows you to immerse yourself once again in the world of Ghost and provides a colorful cross-section of the Swedish rock band's work in 18 chapters. The musical range of Forge and his comrades-in-arms is impressive, ranging from pure ABBA-style pop numbers to hard metal breakers and touching on everything in between from prog to gothic to indie. With the somewhat bland "The Future Is A Foreign Land", there is even a brand new song, which is coupled somewhat inappropriately to the live concert at the end. As a bridge to the movie in the home cinema and the next studio album, however, this beautiful piece is definitely suitable.