Ghost at the Warfield — Pomp, Pew, and Pure Theatrical Heavy Metal

Costume changes, a censer-swinging choir, and enough confetti cannons to paper the whole congregation — metal's most theatrical night out.

Ghost is the only metal band working today that plays its shows as a Mass — a full Satanic liturgy complete with a swinging censer, a choir of Nameless Ghouls in mirrored masks, and a frontman who changes costume three times and treats the whole thing with the total sincerity of a man who knows the joke and refuses to break it. At the Warfield, Tobias Forge — as Cardinal Copia, then Papa Emeritus IV, then a sequined third thing — led a faithful congregation through 'Square Hammer,' 'Cirice,' 'Kaisarion,' and 'Year Zero' with a vocal that mixes Black Sabbath, ABBA, and a cathedral choir.

The band is tight, the production is immaculate, and the confetti cannons at the end of 'Year Zero' would paper a whole block. The pit was the most well-behaved metal pit I've ever stood in, which is part of Ghost's strange gift: it's a metal show you can bring your parents to, your kids to, and your non-metal friends to — and by the encore they're all singing along to a song about the apocalypse. Long live the Ministry.