Health / Gost / Zetra –  Rat-Based Warfare Tour: The Old World, Opium Dublin 18.10.2024

The sun was setting as I came up on Opium (the venue, not the drug). A blood red dripping sky as I was walking inside a darkened doomed opium as the fog followed me through the back bar. As I walked in there were 2 NightKing like figures on stage blasting out some ominous sounds. Zetra, so they were called. 

I blinked, and before I knew it, I was staring into the abyss of the dead blank eyes of a Ghost Rider-esque figure playing synth, not something I was expecting on my Friday night. Gost (Without the H) beat the shit out of that stage. Red lights flashing and strobe lights stabbing the eyes as this dead figure sprung up and down like a jack in the box. Jack Skeletor in the box more like it. I can still feel the bass throbbing through my temples. 

HEALTH was next to destroy us. And all the crowd could do in anticipation was photograph the rats in which lay across the instruments. Rats onstage to signify the latest album releases titled RAT WARS.  

To my amazement, the band walked out front of stage to some sort of Manga baby metal music from Pokemon. This sentence will surely expose me for not being a fan of the band as everyone in the audience was singing along if they knew Japanese or not. Whilst I stood there confused and thinking if I am in the right venue lol. 

As John Famiglietti picked up their bass, my eye caught a glimpse of a Manga character sticker on the front. A world I clearly know nothing about.

An explosion of sounds ooozed from the amps, and for a minute I completely forgot I was there to capture the night, rather I had leaned against the wall in amazement of what I was seeing and hearing. Hyper amount of energy and a possibly ADHD band who could never stand still. But this is how its done, they used up every inch of that stage, it would be a difficult task for a well trained sniper to get a good shot. Well, you can imagine how I felt with a camera in my hand and the entire audience barged up against me. 

As hands reached for the ceilings in excitement, and band members reached out to their fans, the night continued on a high. Everyone in sync, hammering through track after track. The bar men got a break at least, and the smoking area was empty for a good hour and more. Not a single person was taking their eyes off that stage. You couldn’t sure, you’d never know what you would miss. 

HEALTH are only at the beginning of a very very long world tour. Liverpool, then Dublin. And then its on to the rest of Europe and the UK and back again on a trip around the states. With that amount of energy on stage, you can just tell how hard working these guys are, and you can bet your ass that they will be performing this hard on the last night as they did on their first night. 

Serious show, serious band! 

Top notch night in Opium Dublin.

Zetra photos & set-list:

Set-list:
Sacrifice
Starfall
Shatter the Mountain
Holy Malice (Annabel)
Suffer Eternally
Inseparable
The Mirror
Gaia
Sacred Song

Gost photos:

Health photos & set-list:

Set-list:
Tapped Intro – A Cruel Angel’s Thesis (Yōko Takahashi song)
Identity
God Botherer
Crack Metal
Men Today
Hatefuk
Zoothorns
Psychonaut
Stonefist
New Coke
Future Of Hell
Demigods
Major Crimes
Unloved
Body/Prison
Be Quiet and Drive – Far Away)(Deftones cover)
Ashamed
Tears
We Are Water
Feel Nothing
DSM‐V

Words & Photos Carl Foran – @carlforanphotography