Ghost Kickoff Their "Skeletá" World Tour While Seeking To Recapture 80s & 90s Metal Tour Nostalgia

Multi-platinum occult rock outfit Ghost launched their “Skeletá” world tour tonight, April 15th, in Manchester, UK. That trek has been met with initial pushback, following the decision of band frontman Tobias Forge (aka Papa V Perpetua, etc.) to make the event ‘a phone-free experience‘. As such, while little if any fan-filmed footage is expected to make it out of the venue on a nightly basis, the setlist for the tour opener has at least come to light.

According to those in attendance, tonight’s kickoff found the band debuting a number of tracks from their above-mentioned sixth studio album live, while also reintroducing a few tracks to the stage for the first time in years. That set list ran as follows:

“Peacefield” (world premiere)
“Lachryma” (live debut)
“Spirit” (first time since 2019)
“From The Pinnacle To The Pit”
“Majesty” (first time since 2019)
“The Future Is A Foreign Land” (live debut)
“Devil Church”
“Cirice”
“Darkness At The Heart Of My Love” (live debut)
“Satanized” (live debut)
“Ritual”
“Umbra” (world premiere)
“Year Zero”
“Spöksonat”
“He Is”
“Rats”
“Kiss the Go-Goat”
“Mummy Dust”
“Monstrance Clock” (first time since 2019)

Encore:

“Mary On A Cross”
“Dance Macabre”
“Square Hammer”

Per current guidelines, those attending the band’s shows on this tour will be restricted from accessing their phone for the duration of the live performance, instead being forced to secure them in a provided Yondr pouch upon admittance. Audience members will however remain in possession of their phone within the pouch at all times.

The group’s ringleader and frontman Tobias Forge further explained that divisive decision last month, telling Planet Rock:

“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.”

Recent developments in the band’s camp have more clearly illustrated that this step is a part of Forge‘s nostalgic bent for the shows of old though, as this trek and album cycle are largely being laid out like an attempt at recapturing the metal concertgoing experience of the 80s & 90s.

First up, the band are seeking resurrect the largely lost tradition of an in-person midnight album launch for “Skeletá“. Special afterhours launches like that ushered in a number of key metal and hard rock albums in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, before digital distribution diminished the demand for physical product.

Forge has also taken the step in approaching coverage of this tour in a fashion once practiced by MTV and their beloved metal show, ‘Headbangers Ball‘. Back in the 80s and 90s, big metal tours would have MTV correspondents embedded with the tour for a few days, later showcasing the trek and various antics from the road in a resulting video package.

In a clear nod to that pre-internet/social media era, today (April 15th) saw Ghost announce they’ll be covering this ongoing tour in a very similar fashion, teasing the launch of their own recurring ‘Ghoulbangers Ball‘ segments:

With smartphones and fan-filming having become a ubiquitous component of the modern concertgoing experience, it’s expected that this attempt to put the veritable genie back in the bottle will have its fair share of critics.

But as far as delivering a throwback to a concert and album cycle experience not seen in decades, it remains an intriguing experiment. That said, not everything visual regarding the tour has been made off-limits to fans. If you’re curious, photos of the spread of merch available at the opening show are available via Reddit.

“Skeletá” will arrive on April 25th, with the world tour booked in support of it set to unfold as follows:

04/16 Glasgow, UK – OVO Hydro
04/19 London, UK – The O2
04/20 Birmingham, UK – Utilita Arena
04/22 Antwerp, BEL – Sportpaleis
04/23 Frankfurt, DE – Festhalle Frankfurt
04/24 Munich, GER – Olympiahalle
04/26 Lyon, FRA – LDLC Arena
04/27 Toulouse, FRA – Zénith Toulouse Métropole
04/29 Lisbon, POR – MEO Arena
04/30 Madrid, SPA – Palacio Vistalegre
05/03 Zürich, SWI – Hallenstadion Zürich
05/04 Milan, ITA – Unipol Forum
05/07 Berlin, GER – Uber Arena
05/08 Amsterdam, NET – Ziggo Dome
05/10 Lodz, POL – Atlas Arena
05/11 Prague, CE – O2 Arena
05/13 Paris, FRA – Accor Arena
05/14 Oberhausen, GER – Rudolf Weber-ARENA
05/15 Hannover, GER – ZAG Arena
05/17 Copenhagen, DEN – Royal Arena
05/20 Tampere, FIN – Nokia Arena
05/22 Linköping, SWE – Saab Arena
05/23 Sandviken, SWE – Göransson Arena
05/24 Oslo, NOR – Oslo Spektrum
07/09 Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
07/11 Atlanta, GA – State Farm Arena
07/12 Tampa, FL – Amalie Arena
07/13 Miami, FL – Kaseya Center
07/15 Raleigh, NC – Lenovo Center
07/17 Cleveland, OH – Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
07/18 Pittsburgh, PA – PPG Paints Arena
07/19 Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
07/21 Boston, MA – TD Garden
07/22 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
07/24 Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
07/25 Louisville, KY – KFC Yum! Center
07/26 Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
07/28 Grand Rapids, MI – Van Andel Arena
07/29 Milwaukee, WI – Fiserv Forum
07/30 St. Louis, MO – Enterprise Center
08/01 Rosemont, IL – Allstate Arena
08/02 Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
08/03 Omaha, NE – CHI Health Center
08/05 Kansas City, MO – T-Mobile Center
08/07 Denver, CO – Ball Arena
08/09 Las Vegas, NV – MGM Grand Garden Arena
08/10 San Diego, CA – Viejas Arena
08/11 Phoenix, AZ – Footprint Center
08/14 Austin, TX – Moody Center
08/15 Fort Worth, TX – Dickies Arena
08/16 Houston, TX – Toyota Center
09/24 Mexico City, MEX – Palacio de los Deportes