The Midnight Ghost Train Announce European Tour; Playing Hellfest and More
As you know, Kansas heavy blues rabblerousers The Midnight Ghost Train called it a night once upon a 2018, just a year after the release of their to-date-final long-player, 2017’s Cypress Ave. (review here). The band led by guitarist/vocalist Steve Moss, with drummer Brandon Burghart and, ultimately, bassist Mike Boyne spent much of the 2010s grinding it out oldschool-style on the road, and their last gig, at the 2018 Maryland Doom Fest (review here), was a celebration worthy of their reputation for hitting hard and fast with an urgency of groove most couldn’t even hope to fake let alone actually pull off. The Midnight Ghost Train had an energy all their own.
I was glad that was still the case in 2022 when they reunited to take the stage at Freak Valley Festival (review here), taking care at the time — as they do with the tour being announced below — to temper expectations for an actual, ongoing return. Hasn’t happened and may or may not ever happen — never say never until everyone’s dead, but Moss seemed pretty burnt on the whole project after Cypress Ave., so either way it was time to move on when they did. Now it seems like maybe they’re having trouble not being a band.
You know how that goes? Sometimes a band breaks up and it doesn’t stick? There are a couple examples from recent years — Graveyard and Truckfighters trying to get out and not come to mind — but if I can make a casual suggestion to The Midnight Ghost Train, maybe the answer isn’t to never be a band or to always be a band. Maybe the middle road — of sometimes being a band — can be the way to go. Maybe The Midnight Ghost Train every few years packs up their stuff and head abroad, for a Freak Valley — or to mark 10 years of 2015’s Cold Was the Ground (review here) at Hellfest in France, as is the case here — or whathaveyou, and maybe someday they’ll put out a record and maybe they won’t, but it doesn’t have to be a thing where people are like, “Oh you’re standing onstage album coming soon?” where the expectations come to the forefront. Maybe what The Midnight Ghost Train need is to feel their way into being a band with a new operating modus. Do you still need something if you don’t need it the same way you did 20 years ago? This is a question I ask myself on the regular.
And I don’t really have an answer beyond being glad The Midnight Ghost Train are doing shows. And they were always more broadly embraced by Europe, so the tour makes sense even if the impetus was an offer they couldn’t refuse from Hellfest (and I don’t know that it was) and they’re trying to make the most of it for themselves as well as their fans. Whether they do more or not, I’ll confirm that at least as of the last time they played live they tore it up, so if you’re thinking about hitting this and getting while the getting is good, that might be the way to go.
From social media:
The Midnight Ghost Train – European Tour 2025
That’s right, we’re back. One last tour, one last time. Super excited to play some of our favorite venues and share the stage with Sons of Node. This will be our last tour, doubt there will be another, so let’s get together and enjoy, one last time.
The Midnight Ghost Train w/ Sons of Node
Celebrating 10 years of ‘Cold Was the Ground.’
19.06 Nijmegen NL Merleyn
20.06 TBA
21.06 Clisson FR Hellfest
24.06 Oberentfelden CH Böröm Pöm Pöm
25.06 Köln DE Sonic Ballroom
26.06 Dusseldorf DE Pitcher
27.06 Utrecht NL DB’s
28.06 Tilburg NL Little Devil
29.06 Bourlon FR Rock in Bourlon
30.06 Antwerp BE Music City
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