With just one show remaining, GHOST's Skeletour North American leg reaches its climax tomorrow night at the Intuit Dome in Los Angeles, California. The February 23 date carries extraordinary weight following Tobias Forge's candid revelation that the band has no further touring plans after the Skeletour wraps, making tomorrow's performance potentially the last time fans will see the masked Swedish collective perform live for an extended and indefinite period.
The Skeletour launched on January 21 in Orlando, Florida and has traversed the continent with the elaborate theatrical production that has become GHOST's hallmark. The staging for this cycle has been described as the band's most ambitious yet, featuring enhanced pyrotechnics, elaborate costume changes, and the immersive narrative storytelling that Forge has elevated to an art form across successive album cycles. The Skeletour supports "Skeleta," GHOST's most recent studio album, which continued the band's commercial ascent and further blurred the boundaries between heavy metal, arena rock, and theatrical performance.
One of the tour's most notable features has been GHOST's strict phone-free policy, implemented through the use of Yondr pouches that lock away attendees' devices for the duration of the performance. The policy has been polarizing but widely praised by those who experienced it, with fans and critics noting that the enforced disconnection from screens created a more immersive and emotionally present concert experience. The approach aligns with Forge's vision of GHOST shows as complete theatrical events rather than mere concerts.
Forge's decision to step away from touring after the Skeletour reflects his stated desire to prioritize family time and devote energy to mysterious recording projects that he has alluded to but not yet detailed publicly. Whether these projects involve the next GHOST album or something entirely different remains a subject of intense speculation. The Los Angeles finale at the state-of-the-art Intuit Dome — which opened in 2024 as one of the most technologically advanced arenas in the world — promises to be a fitting capstone to a tour that has cemented GHOST's position as one of heavy music's premier live acts.