Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin at Liberty Hall, Lawrence KS (2023-10-17)

Now, it truly feels like the Fall / Halloween season–

The currently touring version of the influential and classic Italian instrumental progressive band Goblin, came to Liberty Hall in downtown Lawrence to perform a live score to the 1985 film “Demons”, as well as a classic live set of their own.

The band initially was formed by Claudio Simonetti and Massimo Morante, from the remnants of previous band, Cherry Five in the early 70’s and went through various lineup changes and incarnations, also composing film soundtracks as well as their own albums.

Several variations of the group have continued and the touring version that North American audiences have been familiar with since 2014 is Claudio Simonetti's Goblin, consisting of Simonetti on keyboards, Daniele Amador on guitar, Cecilia Nappo on bass, and Federico Maragoni on drums.

They’ve previously toured scoring Dario Argento films in concert such as “Suspiria” and “Deep Red”, but this time out was the lesser known “Demons” produced by Argento and directed by Lamberto Bava.

The film turned out to be quite entertaining as well as apropos in a meta way, as the story revolves around students and random people who are given complimentary tickets to a mysterious movie screening in the streets, where they soon find themselves trapped in the movie theater with a horde of ravenous demons.

For the live scoring of the film, the volume was adjusted to match the amplified live band and the score itself was adjusted to fit better in the live setting. In addition to Goblin’s score, the original film did have a traditional soundtrack, in step with the times, that featured mid 80’s acts like Go West, Billy Idol, Rock Springfield, and Saxon.

On heavier hits, “Save Our Souls” by Mötley Crüe and “Fast As Shark” by AC/DC-esque German band Accept, the live foursome played along to the music and to great effect, as the original vocals soared and sitting cinema crowd roared with delight and flashed horned metal signs with both arms.

Following the purposely overly bloody movie, that was drama-building in some points, unintentionally funny in others, but all-around entertaining, the live quartet fired up further, as the movie’s credits were rolling.

Without taking a break, Simonetti guided band and audience, through a bevy of Goblin discography/filmography songs (known from films “Suspiria”, “Deep Red”, “Tenebre”, and “Phenomena”) with selections like “Suspiria” given a musical updating, and deemed the “Mater Suspiriorum” version, accompanied by a recent band video.

Not limited to Argento films, a selection of “horror greatest hits” from non-Argento associated classic films was performed as well, including their version of John Carpenter’s “Halloween- Main Title Theme”, Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” (best known from The Exorcist”), and more.

The evening ended by being a fantastically entertaining audio-visual experience, perfect for the season, and featured spot-on musicianship by four talented musicians. We regret not previously catching Claudio Simonetti's Goblin live before but have made it a part of our fall tradition, for as long as they come through a nearby venue, and we suggest you do the same.

 (Photos by BRANDON CLASEN – Click on any image to enlarge and see in full)