Tobias Forge, the mastermind behind Ghost, puts on a theatrical-adjacent production during their live shows. From the stage arrangement and props, to the band and Forge‘s costuming and makeup, to the actual performance itself, it’s a spectacle, one to be enjoyed in its entirety rather than just the music – even though just music is never a bad thing. And with that kind of artistic creativity behind Ghost, Forge has made headlines for implementing a ‘no phone’ rule throughout his shows. Yet, it’s not the only criticism that Ghost is constantly receiving.
When speaking to Lou Brutus of HardDrive, Forge explained that the band had receiving backlash for not having enough variation in their set, “In the past and, and this happens to bands all the time, you get criticized because you don’t change the set just for that specific show, which is insane. You want us to reconfigure the whole thing every night? We are simply not that kind of band; we don’t do that” (transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Similarly to the way a theatrical production wouldn’t change scenes within their shows, Ghost acknowledge that when touring, you have to approach it with a similar mindset: “So we figured that, well, a whole lot of people have not seen the show now, so we will continue this tour and just present the tour. ‘Here’s the tour,” Forge continues, “I mean, just because people in Europe have seen it… If you live in Baltimore, you have not seen it, so you’re gonna get the same thing. The only thing that we added was a little bit of circulating slots.”
However, almost as a compromise of sorts, Ghost have introduced a ‘song roulette’ in their live show, in which a random song is selected each night to be played – so there is variation, but it’s not a vastly different show, “Each and every night there’s a slot over here — I think it’s number four and number five, and then there’s one later where there’s a circulation of songs — it rotates. So it’s never really the same show. And we added more songs now, so that becomes a little bit of a roulette every night. And that is for fans, yes, but that’s also for us, because that keeps you on your toe a little, and that keeps everybody fresh a little. And if you wanna play yourself a little game, you don’t look at the setlist and you’re just sort of, like, ‘Oh, we’re playing that tonight. Oh, cool.’ And for me, mentally, that’s a little bit of a good thing.”
Ghost kick off their Skeletour World Tour in North America on January 21st in Orlando, Florida and remain on the road for a month. You can check out tour dates below, and find tickets here.
January
21 — Orlando, FL @ Kia Center
22 — Jacksonville, FL @ VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
24 — Knoxville, TN @ Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
25 — Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center
26 — Greenville, SC @ Bon Secours Wellness Arena
28 — Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
30 — Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre
31 — Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena
February
2 — Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena
4 — Cincinnati, OH @ Heritage Bank Center
5 — Peoria, IL @ Peoria Civic Center Arena
7 — Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
10 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Delta Center
12 — Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
14 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena
15 — Seattle, WA @ Climate Pledge Arena
17 — Portland, OR @ Moda Center
20 — Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center
21 — Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
23 — Inglewood, CA @ Intuit Dome
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