The Ghost Inside gives London a show of a lifetime
The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside 
The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside The Ghost Inside
The Ghost Inside took over the O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday, June 18th. The show had to be rescheduled from their original 2020 date and fans queued up in masses, eager to welcome them back to London. This performance was The Ghost Inside’s first headlining set in London since their celebrated return to music, following their tragic bus accident taking place in November of 2015, which left both drivers deceased and every member of the band and crew injured.
Fully aware of how monumental this performance was, the crowd took advantage of every second they got with The Ghost Inside.
People screamed every word with great enthusiasm and there were at least two mosh pits going at all times and a steady stream of crowd-surfers the entire night. Halfway through the set, in the middle of their song “Mercy”, vocalist Jonathan Vigil told the crowd, “If you know our band at all and you know what we’ve been through, you know how much this next line means to us. Sing it as loud as you can.”
The crowd screamed, “Life’s swinging hard, but I’m swinging harder.”
Toward the end of the set, Vigil announced to the crowd that he had a stack of signed setlists and drumsticks to anyone who made their way to the front to grab them from him. As soon as the next note rang out, people began surfing their way. Like a scene straight from a zombie film, fans climbed on top of each other and clawed their way to the front to obtain one of the coveted freebies.
The band walked off the stage, came back and played their encore, and then walked off again. Without being prompted, the crowd began singing the lyrics to “Engine 45”: “All my life, I’ve been waiting for something that never came. It never came. But, I’m still saying. All my life, I’ve been searching for something to break these chains, to break these chains. I’ll keep swinging.”
Illuminated by stage lights, Jonathan Vigil and Andrew Tkaczyk (drummer) — of whom had lost a leg in the accident and was still performing with a prosthetic — walked over to greet the crowd and distribute the last remaining setlists and drumsticks. The weight of this moment was palpable. It was a miracle that these men were alive, let alone performing their music to a live audience once again and every single attendee knew it. London would not take The Ghost Inside for granted ever again.
Photography by Jayme Bigger
Share this article
or
Get music updates in your inbox