Lords of Metal
Arrow Lords of Metal

TOBIAS FORGE explains GHOST's phone ban during 2025 tour

06-03-2025

In a new interview with Planet RockGHOST mastermind Tobias Forge addressed the band’s announcement last fall that GHOST‘s 2025 world tour would be “a phone-free experience”, with guests maintaining possession of their phones at all times, secured in Yondr pouches. He said: “I really wanna underline that the ban has nothing to do with, let’s say, copyright control. It’s not that we wanna sit on all the material and we don’t want anybody to monetize (GHOST videos); it has nothing to do with that.”

Referencing the fact that GHOST‘s feature film debut “Rite Here Rite Now” was filmed over two nights in September 2023 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, Tobias continued: “The ‘Rite Here Rite Now’, the film, the essence of messaging in that film was exactly that, but also I, but us collectively, working, making that film… We filmed two shows in L.A. in front of audiences where they had to put their phones into pockets. You don’t give it away. You have your phone; you don’t have to worry about that. If you need to call, you can go out. If you need to take a photo, you can take a photo of yourself out in the lobby; that’s fine. But what ended up happening was that we had such an engaged crowd that seemed joyous in a way that… I had to go back years and in time since I last saw a fully engaged crowd where everybody’s actually watching the show. They don’t have to watch me, but they’re watching the band.”

The 44-year-old Forge added: “I don’t wanna turn this into an ageist thing where I’m gonna tell 14-year-olds everything was better back then. But I swear that the experience of shows and the making of memories, the making of magic, was much more powerful. Some of the best shows I’ve ever been to, I have maybe not even seen a picture from that because they all live here in my head. They live in my core. That’s the memory I have of that. And that is an experience I wish for… Obviously, the part of our crowd that are older and more aware, maybe this becomes a little bit nostalgic then. But I really believe that the younger portion of our crowd will, as they did in L.A., come out saying, like, ‘That was not only a great concert; that was also an overwhelming experience.’ Because I do believe that you will feel that.”

Through the use of technology like Yondr, fans are able to place their phones in a pouch that unlocks only after they leave the no-cell-phone zone. The pouch can also be unlocked at specific cell phone stations inside the venue.

Phone-free concerts are touted as a way to cut down on illegal filming and non-stop selfies that can take away from the performance.

Yondr founder Graham Dugoni said his company’s pouches were created for “phone-free spaces” where “creativity and productivity could flourish in the absence of technology.”

Phones, Apple watches and other communication devices are placed in the pouch and sealed using a magnetized lock, which can be opened with an unlocking base.

Musicians like Jack WhiteAlicia Keys, and comedians Dave Chappelle and Jerrod Carmichael have used Yondr pouches at their shows to encourage people to live in the moment.

A number of other musicians have come out in recent years to say that mobile technology is ruining the concert experience, including SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor. He told “Loudwire Nights” that “it’s fine” if people want to take pictures of his bands’ shows, but not so much if they are videotaping entire performances. “It’s one thing to film it, it’s another thing to just be staring at your screen while you’re filming it,” he said. “It’s right there. Are you so terrified of real life that you can’t do anything unless it’s on that little four-by-four screen? Ugggh. It’s very weird.”

Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach in 2015 urged fans to keep their cell phones at the bottom of their pockets and just watch his performances. “Be in the moment,” he said. “You’re distracted and it’s distracting to the performer as well. Like, put your fuckin’ cell phone away, dammit! You’re never even going to watch that footage.”

The overuse of cellphones to capture grainy, blurry photos and videos at concerts has for years vexed and enraged artists like Bach, who lamented the fact that every one of his performances could be recorded and shared on YouTube almost immediately.

“If I go to a wedding and sing a song, it’s on Blabbermouth the next day and everybody analyzes it,” said Bach. “It’s a really backwards way to watch a band. It’s a drag sometimes when I go up there and the first thing I see is everybody getting their phones out and holding them toward my face. It makes you feel intimidated.”

Back in 2012, Bruce Dickinson chastised a fan for texting during an IRON MAIDEN concert, calling him a “wanker.”

When Axl Rose reunited with his former GUNS N’ ROSES bandmates Duff McKagan and Slash for the first time in 23 years at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in April 2016, the concert was phone-free.

“God, it was wonderful,” McKagan told The New York Times. “It was the old-school feeling, where people were dancing and getting down. It was really cool.”

Yesterday, GHOST announced they will release their new album, “Skeletá”, on April 25 via Loma Vista Recordings. The official music video for the LP’s first single, “Satanized”, is now released.

Watch “Satanized” below.

“Satanized” is described in a press release as “an avalanche of infectious hooks and harmonies is buoyed by a hypnotic shuffle, as the narrator succumbs to dark forces within and without, helplessly acknowledging their own blasphemy and heresy as it inexorably consumes them.” By the time the song’s opening lines “There is something inside me and they don’t know if there is a cure” have moved from the inner monologue of the possessed to the ears of the hapless listener, it will already be too late: You will have been “Satanized”.

The “Satanized” music video introduces the new character who will be fronting GHOST for its 2025 touring cycle: Papa V Perpetua.

GHOST has also launched an interactive element dubbed The Satanizer, a first-of-its-kind music video experience for fans who wish to be “Satanized.” Developed in partnership with Jason Zada (Elf Yourself),The Satanizer will morph its users into characters featured in the song’s melodramatic video. With a quick upload of your photo, The Satanizer will send out a personalized music video clip featuring the participant, who can in turn share via social media that they too have been “Satanized.”

“Skeletá” track listing:

01. Peacefield
02. Lachryma
03. Satanized
04. Guiding Lights
05. De Profundis Borealis
06. Cenotaph
07. Missilia Amori
08. Marks Of The Evil One
09. Umbra
10. Excelsis

Papa V Perpetua‘s name was initially listed as one of the performers for BLACK SABBATH‘s final concert, set to take place on July 5 at Villa Park in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

GHOST also confirmed the singer’s participation at the Villa Park event in a social media update, writing: “We wish to inform you V is coming… To Birmingham on July 5th.”

GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge performed as a “new” Papa Emeritus on each of the band’s first three LPs, with each version of Papa replacing the one that came before it. Papa Emeritus III was retired in favor of Cardinal Copia before the release of 2018’s “Prequelle”. In March 2020, at final show of GHOST‘s “Prequelle” tour in Mexico City, Mexico, the band officially introduced Papa Emeritus IV, the character who fronted the act for its “Impera” (2022) album phase.

Asked in a 2019 interview with Full Metal Jackie‘s nationally syndicated radio show how those different identities empower him as a performer, Forge said: “Speaking just for myself, I know that coming out onstage as another character, looking different, acting different, definitely allows for you to act and behave in a way that you wouldn’t normally do. This can be both traumatic and also therapeutical in away.

“Even though it’s been a long time since I practiced any sort of martial arts, I almost feel similar to myself back then, like after karate class. I did all kinds of things. I did judo, jiu-jitsu, tae kwon do and karate. After you are sort of cleansed from any sort of violent urges that you had. And in a way, I feel that way. Especially now when we play on our regular nights. When we play that long, any inkling that you have of wanting to dance and rock out is sort of over when you come off stage, which is very nice.

“One of the luxuries of being able to dress up for it and become a different character is that as soon as I am not that character anymore, no one expects me to behave the way that the character does onstage,” he added. “No one expects me to be that way offstage. There’s been a great handful of rock artists that have had a big problem differentiating themselves from their character onstage. And that leads to a lot of potential problems.”

As previously reported, GHOST will embark on a world tour in 2025. The European leg of the trek will kick off on April 15 in Manchester, United Kingdom and conclude on May 24 in Oslo, Norway. The North American leg of GHOST‘s 2025 tour will launch on July 9 in Baltimore, Maryland and wrap up on August 16 in Houston, Texas.

The physical home video of GHOST‘s worldwide Top 10 box office smash feature film debut “Rite Here Rite Now” was made available on December 6, 2024.

GHOST world tour 2025 dates:

Apr. 15 – Manchester, UK – AO Arena
Apr. 16 – Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
Apr. 19 – London, UK – The O2
Apr. 20 – Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
Apr. 22 – Antwerp, BE – Sportpaleis
Apr. 23 – Frankfurt, DE – Festhalle Frankfurt
Apr. 24 – Munich, DE – Olympiahalle
Apr. 26 – Lyon, FR – LDLC Arena
Apr. 27 – Toulouse, FR – Zénith Toulouse Métropole
Apr. 29 – Lisbon, PT – MEO Arena
Apr. 30 – Madrid, ES – Palacio Vistalegre
May 03 – Zürich, CH – Hallenstadion Zürich
May 04 – Milan, IT – Unipol Forum
May 07 – Berlin, DE – Uber Arena
May 08 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome
May 10 – Lodz, PL – Atlas Arena
May 11 – Prague, CZ – O2 Arena
May 13 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena
May 14 – Oberhausen, DE – Rudolf Weber-ARENA
May 15 – Hannover, DE – ZAG Arena
May 17 – Copenhagen, DK – Royal Arena
May 20 – Tampere, FI – Nokia Arena
May 22 – Linköping, SE – Saab Arena
May 23 – Sandviken, SE – Göransson Arena
May 24 – Oslo, NO – Oslo Spektrum
Jul. 09 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
Jul. 11 – Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
Jul. 12 – Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
Jul. 13 – Miami, FL – Kaseya Center
Jul. 15 – Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center
Jul. 17 – Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
Jul. 18 – Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
Jul. 19 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
Jul. 21 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
Jul. 22 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
Jul. 24 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
Jul. 25 – Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
Jul. 26 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
Jul. 28 – Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
Jul. 29 – Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
Jul. 30 – St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
Aug. 01 – Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena
Aug. 02 – Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
Aug. 03 – Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center
Aug. 05 – Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center
Aug. 07 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
Aug. 09 – Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
Aug. 10 – San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena
Aug. 11 – Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center
Aug. 14 – Austin, TX – Moody Center
Aug. 15 – Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena
Aug. 16 – Houston, TX – Toyota Center
Sep. 24 – Mexico City, MX – Palacio de los Deportes

Social media