This weekend, Ghost performed their cover of Genesis' Jesus He Knows Me for the first time on stage.
The performance took place on May 21 on the opening night of their 2023 tour at Zénith in Rouen, France.
The Swedish occult party-rockers shared the TV evangelist-slating track as a single on Easter Sunday (April 9) last month, as featured on their newly-released covers EP Phantomime.
As well as Jesus He Knows Me, Ghost additionally debuted Respite On The Spitalfields for the first time, lifted from 2022's chart-topping album Impera, which was played as the last song.
Other tunes included in the 20-track set were show openers Kaisarion and Rats, followed by Faith, Spillways, Cirice, Hunter's Moon, and Mary On A Cross, among others.
Speaking of the covering the Genesis track while in conversation with France's FIP Metal, frontman Tobias Forge explains: "Jesus He Knows Me, the original, is obviously very uptempo, but it sounds like they're playing it with flower sticks — very, very soft.
"And most of the things that I made my version of, or our version of, most of the things, the components are in the original song, but they're just played in a very, very subdued sort of [way]… That was the guiding light throughout the recording — just to make it as energetic possible."
Ghost are currently in the midst of their tour across Europe in support of 2022's Impera. From August 2, they'll then venture on their Re-Imperatour US tour with Amon Amarth as special guests. Full dates below.
Watch the performance and check out the full setlist below:
Ghost setlist 21/05/23:
1. Kaisarion
2. Rats
3. Faith
4. Spillways
5. Cirice
6. Hunter's Moon
7. Jesus He Knows Me (GENESIS cover) (live debut)
8. Ritual
9. Call Me Little Sunshine
10. Con Clavi Con Dio
11. Watcher In The Sky
12. Year Zero
13. He Is
14. Miasma
15. Mary On A Cross
16. Mummy Dust
17. Respite On The Spitalfields (live debut)
Discussing the Phantomime EP with NME back in April, Forge revealed that the project would “cast a glimpse as to where I want to go with the band now”.
He added: “That doesn’t mean that all of a sudden we’re going to sound like Television! It just means that there are practical things in there that have inspired me to record this EP in a slightly different way than I have done previously.”
Although the covers chosen for the EP may seem somewhat "dated", the frontman notes how the political shift back to “Mediaeval times” in the West is what swayed his creative choices. “All that stuff, it felt dated a few years ago" he explains. "Whereas now, everything that we’re singing about on this song, everything that this song is about is actually right back up beside what I’m writing about in my own material.
“What I’m writing about is a completely contemporary commentary on basically a movement within the free Western world who wants to flatten the Earth. This movement wants to regress the world, and just completely turn the clock back to Mediaeval times. I don’t know what that’s about, it’s just stupidity!”
Ghost: Imperatour 2023
May 25: Rennes Le Liberte, France
May 26: Lille Zénith de Lille, France
May 28: Strasbourg Zenith of Strasbourg, France
May 29: Milano Ippodromo del Galoppo di San Siro, Italy
May 30: Nice Palais Nikaïa, France
Jun 01: Barcelona Primavera Sound, Spain
Jun 03: Saint-herblain Zenith Nantes Metropole, France
Jun 04: Amsterdam AFAS Live, Netherlands
Jun 06: Berlin Velodrom, Germany
Jun 08: Gdańsk Mystic Festival, Poland
Jun 10: Sölvesborg Sweden Rock Festival, Sweden
Jun 11: Derby Download Festival 2023, UK
Jun 12: Esch-sur-alzette Rockhal, Luxembourg
Jun 13: Bochum RuhrCongress Bochum, Germany
Jun 15: Dessel Graspop Metal Meeting, Belgium
Jun 17: Copenhagen Copenhell Festival 2023, Denmark
Jun 19: Hamburg Barclays Arena, Germany
Jun 20: Neu-ulm Ratiopharm Arena, Germany
Jun 22: Spálené Poříčí Basinfire Festival 2023, Czechia
Jun 23: Oslo Tons of Rock 2023, Norway
Jun 25: Athina AthensRocks Fest, Greece
Jun 28: Viveiro Resurrection Fest, Spain
Jul 01: Seinäjoki Provinssi Festival, Finland|
Jul 02: Helsinki Tuska Festival, Finland
Aug 02: Concord Pavilion, CA
Aug 04: Auburn White River Amphitheatre, WA
Aug 05: Airway Heights BECU Live at Northern Quest, WA
Aug 07: West Valley City USANA Amphitheatre, UT
Aug 08: Denver Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, CO
Aug 11: St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
Aug 12: Milwaukee American Family Insurance Amphitheater, WI
Aug 14: Clarkston Pine Knob Music Theatre, MI
Aug 15: Chicago Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island, IL
Aug 16: Cincinnati PNC Pavilion at Riverbend Music Center, OH
Aug 18: Syracuse St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview, NY
Aug 19: Mansfield Xfinity Center, MA
Aug 20: Bridgeport Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater, CT
Aug 22: Indianapolis TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park, IN
Aug 23: Burgettstown The Pavilion at Star Lake, PA
Aug 24: Bristow Jiffy Lube Live, VA
Aug 25: Camden Freedom Mortgage Pavilion, NJ
Aug 27: Nashville Ascend Amphitheater, TN
Aug 29: Simpsonville CCNB Amphitheatre at Heritage Park, SC
Aug 30: Jacksonville Daily’s Place, FL
Aug 31: Tampa Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, FL
Sep 02: The Woodlands The Cynthia Woods Mitchell, TX
Sep 03: Austin Germania Insurance Amphitheater, TX
Sep 05: Irving The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory, TX
Sep 07: Albuquerque Isleta Amphitheater, NM
Sep 08: Phoenix Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, AZ
Sep 11: Los Angeles Kia Forum, CA
