In recent times, Reading’s Facebar has been putting itself well and truly on the national gig circuit map. It may be slightly outside of the town centre, and the stage lighting has much to be desired but the sound is usually impeccable and the staff are always welcoming.

With the added bonus of reasonably priced drinks, this is a proper decent sized grassroots venue where you can see up and coming bands alongside far more established international bands without the need to travel into that there London. In the last twelve months, we’ve seen the likes of A Certain Ratio, Pet Needs, Ricky Warwick, Beans on Toast and Supersuckers grace the venue’s stages. Those bands that have played here enjoy it so much they keep coming back, with the likes of Los Fastidios (Italy), Heathen Apostles (US) and now Ghost Dance making a return journey within less than a year of their last visit.

Having emerged from the ashes of the influential Skeletal Family and The Sisters of Mercy, Ghost Dance were a more poppy aside to the tidal wave of arena goth that threatened the upper echelons of the UK charts in the late eighties. Unfortunately, by the time their debut album ‘Stop the World’ was released in 1989, the rise of dance culture and Madchester saw the zeitgeist move on and the band became a footnote.

However, times change and a reformed band returned in 2019 with Anne Marie Hurst back on vocal duties. In 2023, thirty-four years after their debut album, the band released their excellent sophomore album ‘The Silent Shout’. And when Ghost Dance played here last May, it was a triumphant celebration of the band’s history, so expectations were high tonight.

Korinthians, a four piece band from Ghent in Belgium are the support for tonight. With even more minimalistic lighting than usual for the venue, we are treated to the band’s neon symbol hanging behind the drummer, the rest of the band being lit from behind by a single row of lights. As such, most of the band are either in shadows or silhouetted against the neon sign for the duration of the set.

Given the dark synth beats coming from the stage, it’s a suitable look. There’s elements of late nineties EBM permeating through their sound, albeit with added drums, whilst vocalist/guitarist Mattias has touches of Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan and Editors’ Tom Smith in his intonation. Songs such as ‘No Future’, ‘The Whimper’ and ‘Normal Lives for Normal People’ are enjoyably dark and atmospheric. I love this stuff and the album ‘A Major Walk’ is nice entry into the genre. A good set, but perhaps a little too similar to others ploughing this musical field to really distinguish themselves. Korinthians - Apr 24 There’s been a lineup change in Ghost Dance for logistical reasons since last year’s show although Anne Marie and guitarist Tim Walker remain at the core of the band, so it will be interesting to see how they compare.

Thankfully there’s a little more light on stage for the main set, although it does tend to make the audience more visible than the band themselves. Anne Marie, with her fiery red hair is clearly in a good mood tonight as her smile beams out at the crowd and she introduces ‘I Will Wait’. ‘River of No Return’ with its unmistakable Gary Marx guitar intro follows and we are back in the glorious days of 1985.

Ghost Dance - Apr 24 ‘Falling Down’ from the new album has a more updated sound and allows Anne Marie the opportunity to showcase a more mature vocal than the earlier material. ‘When I Call’ returns to the swirling guitars of the past and whilst the intro to ‘Down to the Wire’ has echoes of Simple Minds’ overblown overtures before it turns into a gothic glam rock stomp.

‘Spin the Wheel’ slows the pace down and has the crowd swaying in unison. The updated lineup are jelling together nicely and this is shown on the rockier ‘Goodbye’ where the band gets to flex its muscles. The night sees Anne Marie make several journeys off the stage to mix with the audience much to their delight. ‘A Deeper Blue’ returns to the early days with added guitar solos and sweeping chorus. It is possibly one of the best songs to come from the first EPs. Ghost Dance - Apr 24 ‘A Town Called Sympathy’ was a live favourite back in the day but remained unrecorded until it appeared on the new album. It sounds great on record and is fantastic live. 'Yesterday Again’ with its spaghetti western intro is a more haunting number, whilst with ‘Jessamine’, the band have a song title that in the old days would have been added to the official list of names you could call your goth kittens.

Fan favourite ‘Last Train’ completes the main set and is much appreciated. Like most bands playing the Facebar, the band stay on stage for the encore and launch into ‘Walk in my Shadow’ which should have been a full blown goth anthem on its release. Revisiting Anne-Marie’s Skeletal Family roots, the band play ‘Promised Land’ which, with its urgent guitars, pounding beat and soaring vocals, goes down a storm. Ghost Dance - Apr 24 It’s been another highly enjoyable set from a band that should have been far bigger, but couldn’t survive the advance of the relentless hordes of baggy jeaned, ecstasy fueled indie kids that would dominate the early nineties.   Ghost Dance - Apr 24