THE MASTODON/OPETH/GHOST TOUR IS A REALLY REAL THING

Last week, rumors started swirling that there was gonna be a North American tour with Mastodon, Opeth, and Ghost, and, oh hey, wouldn’t cha know it, on Thursday, Mastodon’s Troy “Everyone in This Band’s Name Starts with the Letter ‘B’ Except for Me” Sanders confirmed it during an interview with a Belgian radio station, telling them —

“We go to Australia take part in the Soundwave Festival, which is going to be lovely… Take a short break. Do a North American tour with Opeth and Ghost. And then take another break and come back over here for the European festival season.”

Which is obviously terrific news; all three of these bands are mind-blowing live. I think everyone already knows that about Mastodon and Opeth, but, holy crap, do you need to check out Ghost in concert. Vince and I just saw ’em last week, and I would happily go see them again tonight if I could. Their popularity seems to be growing at a ridiculously fast rate (tickets to the show we attended were being scalped for more than six times their face value, and we spotted no less a record industry big shot than Lyor Cohen in the crowd), and this ain’t gonna hurt that none. It’s actually the perfect tour for them, ’cause, like Mastodon (and Opeth to a lesser extent), they’re the kind of band that could reach across the proverbial aisle and unite headbangers and squares in one glorious utopia of not listening to Lana Del fucking Rey.

Dates for the tour haven’t been released yet, but Metal Insider is “hearing it’ll be in the Summer.” More info as we get it.

-AR