Ghost fans heading to the band’s 2025 tour better get used to living in the moment. Whether you like it or not.
Frontman Tobias Forge has doubled down on the decision to make all upcoming shows a phone-free experience. He explained in new interview with Planet Rock that it has nothing to do with copyright control.
“It’s not that we want to sit on all the material and we don’t want anybody to monetise [Ghost videos]. It has nothing to do with that,” Forge said. Instead, the decision was based on the experience of filming Rite Here Rite Now, the band’s concert movie shot over two nights at LA’s Kia Forum in 2023.
During those shows, fans had to lock their phones in Yondr pouches. Forge claims this policy created a noticeably different atmosphere. “We had such an engaged crowd… I had to go back years in time since I last saw a fully engaged crowd where everybody’s actually watching the show,” he said.
The move puts GHOST in a growing list of artists including Jack White, Alicia Keys, and even Guns N’ Roses who have banned phones at their gigs. It also echoes the sentiment of musicians like Corey Taylor, Sebastian Bach, and Bruce Dickinson, who have all expressed frustration at playing to a sea of phone screens.
According to Forge, it’s not about nostalgia or policing behaviour—it’s about making concerts feel like they used to. “I swear that the experience of shows and the making of memories. The making of magic, was much more powerful,” he said. “Some of the best shows I’ve ever been to, I have maybe not even seen a picture from that. They all live here [in my head].”
The tour kicks off in April across Europe before heading to North America in July, coinciding with the release of GHOST’s new album, Skeletá. Ghost’s move marks an interesting precedent for live music. In an age where crowds are a flurry of phones waiting to post videos on Instagram, Ghost’s move can be perceived as somewhat radical. But in the end you will leave with something better, an actual memory.
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