© David Bell
Live Gig Report and Photos by David Bell Photography
https://www.facebook.com/officialdavidbellphotography
After one of the wettest evenings of queuing outside the Leeds Beckett University Students Union, the soaked crowd made their way through the venue entrance for a packed out show from two of Swedens finest acts. An hour after the doors opened, the stage lights finally turned red as the humming of electronics began to build through the PA speakers. Three members of Dead Soul took to the stage as the sound got louder on this unholy night.
The band were very tight, as multi-instrumentalist Niels Nielsen rocked out alongside guitarist and keyboard player Jocke Ekstrand in repetitive riffs of despair. Vocalist Anders Landelius kept the packed crowds attention with his blues vocals that matched the trance-like backing. The style of the music was very diverse, and combined the tastes of individually genre-minded musicians into one unique experience. The reception from the crowd was very welcoming as this was the opening night for the Swedish acts first UK tour. Overall it was a hypnotizing performance of dark electronic rock mixed with blues and strange sound effects that fans of Ghost, Depeche Mode and even Johnny Cash could appreciate.
Highlight tracks included a mixture of old and new with the opener They Will Pay, the latest single The Fool from the new album The Sheltering Sky, Do Your Job and Burn Forever. Definitely a band not to miss and one for fans to get into the upcoming shows early to see.
Swiftly after, the house lights blackened as the smell of incense drifted through the air, the stage lights glowed a haunting green as Jocelyn Pooks Masked Ball, got fans ready for the headliner they came to see. The Nameless drummer Ghoul took to the stage as the spotlight isolated the lead guitar player in the opening track Spirit from Ghost’s latest album Meliora. Papa Emeritus III appeared like a spirit, in the centre of the stage among the smoke and greeted the Leeds crowd. The band’s latest single From The Pinnacle To The Pit, followed immediately after which got fans headbanging along into the Saturday night Mass.
As the third song Ritual came to a close, there was however an incident which took place with Papa, when starting into Con Clavi Con Dio. The whole band left the stage for 10 minutes as the house lights remained green and an organ backing track kept the crowd waiting. At first it seemed like it was planned and the band was going to come back out but as the minutes progressed it left the crowd growing impatient and clueless as to what had happened. As the band re-appeared and started the track again, Papa explained that he had fainted backstage and was ill from seeing all of the beautiful women in the audience and the fact that he could only have one at once. The reaction was welcomed as the night continued until Body and Blood, where two Sisters of Sin were brought up onstage. These fans had been chosen in advance to deliver communion to the audience whilst in full Nun regalia.
Highlight tracks included Cirice, He Is, Absolution, Mummy Dust, and Rocky Ericksons, If You Have Ghosts cover. Papa Emeritus III, made a full recovery throughout the show as there were no further disruptions and the band performed a very powerful set. The band joked throughout the night about Leeds being a University city and Papa gave the crowd missing pieces of song names for fans to guess as they were supposed to be smart people. The interactions with the crowd continued as each song was introduced.
The show ended with Monstrance Clock, the last song from the second album Infesstisumam. The crowd chanted along and grew livelier throughout from teenagers with their parents to 50+ men in shirts and ties singing, “Come together, together as one, come together, for Lucifers son”.
The band took a final bow and thanked the Leeds University crowd.
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