Ghost @ Madison Square Garden, New York, NY 7/22/25

 

Bill: Ghost

Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

Date: 7/22/25

Tickets $102.50 + 28.45 fee bought resale gifted

8:15 pm Ghost

Active: 2006 (Linköping, Östergötland, Sweden)

Latest Release: Skeletá (Loma Vista, 2025)

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The last time I saw Ghost they were opening for Iron Maiden in 2016.  Singer Tobias Forge noted the bands' NYC debut was 2011 in the short lived (at least for Rock bands) Basement at Webster Hall (actually The Studio).  They've come a long way to headlining.  I had a friend in town and picked this show to see and got some good seats in section 108.  Unfortunately, there are no photos or clips from this vantage point because they band was doing the sporadic Yondr bags.  In the past decade I've only had the Yondr experience twice for the Misfits in Jersey and Bob Dylan at the Beacon.

As for the show, there was no opener, so Ghost went on pretty fast after we got there.  The song that made me like the band initially, "Monstrous Clock," is still my favorite.  There's a bit of a Mirrors/"In Thee" BOC vibe to the band with a Goth veneer and an updated Kiss informed masking meets Tim Burton visual-scapes for the stage show.  I know there is an elaborate style and recently certified Gold ("Call Me Little Sunshine," "Rats," "Dance Macabre," and "Cirice"  and Platinum ("Square Hammer" and  "Mary On A Cross" digital hits I ignored as they wracked up streams over the past few years they were certified.  Interestingly, none of their full albums have reached this status but now they have enough hits to headline arenas, so something is up beyond the stage show and "metal" and the album they just put out and I don't quite know or even care much about what it is.  The song I liked is the song they closed their regular set ("Monstrous Clock") and I didn't even know their 3 massive encore hits Mary/Dance/Square.  I still don't remember them!  That said, I guess they are good at what they do and better than alot of things.  If someone told me in 2016 that the band you kind've liked that opened for Iron Maiden and you would see again in ten years, except their setlist was two hours and no Iron Maiden or anything else coming after the day Ozzy died and the price would be double, I'd probably chuckle.  Still, it was a good casual big show to check out