The Ghost Inside Destroys The Fillmore

Photos by Alexa Chihos

Tuesday night was one of those nights where I had to make a hard choice. Did I go say goodbye to Sum 41 at The Armory– a band I have been worshipping for decades? Maybe I go get crazy to Emmure at The Varsity Theater- a band who I haven’t seen in years and always puts on a hell of a show. Should I go to First Avenue to see Sematary, a band I knew nothing about but whose bio intrigued me? Or did I go with my gut and go see the one and only The Ghost Inside at The Fillmore? If you know me or have been reading this blog for a bit, you know I always go with my gut, so I found myself at The Fillmore on Tuesday night, waiting to be wowed by The Ghost Inside.

The last time I saw the opening act, Great American Ghost, was when they stopped by The Turf Club in November of 2018 in support of The Casualties. They blew me away that night, so I was so excited to finally have the chance to feel their relentless energy yet again. They didn’t disappoint and, within the first song of their quick thirty-minute set, I was falling in love with this band all over again. Unfortunately, technical difficulties after the first song left some dead air in the room. It took a couple of minutes for the band to figure out what was wrong, so vocalist Ethan Harrison did his best to fill the space. He talked about everything from his favorite color (burnt orange) to his height (5’11” but, because they killed their set once they got going again, I’m supposed to say 6’1″). Although I hated that I felt like I was missing out on songs from this band, I loved the personality these few minutes showed.

As the band got back to it, it felt like they had something to prove, and that’s precisely what they did. They brought their signature relentless energy and power to the set even though the venue was less than full (more on that later). They didn’t let anyone stop them and, in turn, the audience was eating it up. Although just the first band on what would turn into a four-band night of pure brutality, the audience didn’t hold back and made space for a fairly large pit occupied by a couple of moshers at any given time during Great American Ghost’s set. This band is making some moves. They just inked a record deal with an amazing label (who they did mention, but I feel like that was definitely insider information and was only said to keep the audience engaged during the technical difficulty break, so I won’t say it here), and have a fantastic new track dropping next week (which they did play and asked the entire audience to film). I hope this means I can see more of this band in the near future.

Second to the stage was Glasgow, Scotland- based Bleed From Within. This was my first introduction to this band and although I found some of their music to be edging a bit too closely to the hard rock vein of things, specifically in some of the vocals, for my personal taste, there were other moments of sheers chaos and brutality that had me sold. Vocalist Scott Kennedy didn’t spend a lot of time bantering with the crowd as it was clear that this band was trying to fit everything they could into their quick thirty-minute set but, when he did address them, it was done with an unbelievable sense of heart. Just when I was really starting to pick up on some more intricate details of this group’s set, a guy standing next to me had a medical emergency. I was quick to run and get security and get him some help, but instead of returning to all eyes on the stage, I found myself wanting to make sure this guy was okay. Thankfully, in the long run, he was but I fear that me fretting over him and making sure he got out of the audience and to help safely and quickly was a bit of a distraction for me. That being said, I hope I get another chance to see Bleed From Within perform. I know that Scotland is a long way away from Minnesota but the audience was loving every second of their set so I would like to think that chances are good of a repeat performance.

Speaking of bands from far away- up next was Paleface from Switzerland. Like Bleed From Within, I knew nothing about this band as they took the stage as the final opening act of the night but, within just seconds, I wanted to know everything there was to know about this group. Vocalist Marc Zelli instantly had me lost in the palm of his hand. His vocal style was definitely the biggest highlight for me. I loved the way he could go from spitting straight fire to giving the most guttural pig squeal all before shifting into a primal shout. It was insane what he could do to his voice and, with the intensity of the band behind him, left me with my jaw on the ground. A lot of the tracks from this band reminded me of Slipknot but, more specifically, one of my favorite Slipknot songs- “Eeyore”. The chaos and seemingly unorganized composition of that song could be heard loud and clear throughout Paleface’s set, which really set them apart and made me an instant fan.

I could go on and on about the style of this band for days. It was so fresh and unique but also gave nods to the bands that came before them but that was not the highlight of Paleface’s set for me. The highlight for me was how brutal and aggressive Marc Zelli came off as being throughout the set, yet, towards the end, he took a break to address the audience. He acknowledged that there were a lot of choices to be made on Tuesday night, explicitly shouting out the Alphawolf show (they were opening for Emmure), Sum 41, and the sports ball games happening just blocks away. He went onto say that he didn’t care that this show didn’t sell enough tickets for the space of the room. All that mattered were the people that were there. It was heart felt and a sentiment that made my heart flutter. He was right. It wasn’t a packed room, but it was evident that everyone in The Fillmore on Tuesday night was there because of passion; sometimes passion can fill a room much better than bodies can.

You can’t talk about passion in the metalcore world without talking about the headlining act – The Ghost Inside. This band has been through hell and back and still continue to be kings of the scene. I won’t get into it super deep because this band is so much more than the tragic bus accident that seemed to catapult them into the spotlight back in 2015, but I will say that the resiliency of this band is something to be envied and something that I often think about when I think about throwing the towel in when it comes to this obsession of mine. If The Ghost Inside can get through what they did and come out on the other side, still able to perform with passion and smiles, I can get through whatever hardship life throws at me.

Kicking off their set with “Engine 45”, The Ghost Inside seemed to give the light but passionate audience everything they could have asked for. Each of the seventeen songs the band played was met by a sense of fury from the pit and a sense of passion from those against the barrier screaming along to every word. On top of that, every song was presented with a sense of flawless perfection. I’ve seen many bands try to do those epic breaks where the entire band goes silent for a second before diving into an epic breakdown. I’ve seen many of those bands fail miserably, letting a note hang on too long or letting something muddy up the break. Not The Ghost Inside. You could hear a pin drop during these breaks throughout their set on Tuesday night, which made the anticipation for the drop that much better.

This has been a super long post for me. I know. I thank you for sticking with me and reading this far. I could obviously keep going on about how amazing the night was, but, like every other show I go to, my words will only get you so far. You really just need to go out and experience nights like Tuesday night for yourself.