Fans across the United States were elated to hear that Swedish rock band Ghost was continuing their Skeletour World Tour into 2026. Even more exciting for the Florida fans, they would be performing in Orlando, FL at the Kia Center on January 21st. The tour is in support of their 6th studio album, Skeleta. The album is the band’s first to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and (of course) hit #1 in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, and Finland. It’s no surprise Ghost has enraptured fans across the world with their mixture of hard rock songs and ballads. And, as a fan and media contributor, was absolutely thrilled to be approved to cover this opening tour show.
Ghost fans showed up all decked out as various past versions of Papa Emeritus, the current Papa V Perpetua, and the Nameless Ghouls. And of course others came decked in current and opast Ghost merch. It was absolutely a sight to behold. The stage set was massive with the Ghost symbol hanging above it built with stage lighting and was absolutely the coolest thing I’ve seen them add to their stage set. In a rare occasion, Ghost performed solo on this tour, providing the fans with 2 hours of their rock music. And it was an incredible evening of fan community and phenomenal music.
From the moment Ghost took the stage, the crowd was rabid for everything they threw at them. Papa V Perpetua and 9 Nameless Ghouls rock the crowd all night long. They opened with both “Peacefield” and “Lacryhma” from Skeleta. And I will openly admit I was absolutely singing along with “Lacryhma” while I was photographing. The song has a beautiful melody and I love the way the vocals rise and fall in the chorus. And right after went back old school to Meloria with one of my favorite songs in “Spirit”. And the crowd was immensely loud as they sang along.
Ghost had an amazing 22 set song list that night and literally played something from every album. We got to hear “Satan Prayer” from Opus Eponymous their very first album from 2010. They did “Year Zero” and closed their set (as they’ve been doing the past few tours) with “Monstrance Clock” off Infestissumam from 2013. Meloria (my favorite album from 2015) had great selections, including “He Is”, “Mummy Dust”, and the Grammy-Award winning “Cirice”. From Prequelle in 2018 we heard “Rats” and “Faith”. They gave us “Darkness at the Heart of My Love” (Ghost’s best ballad ever in my opinion) and “Call Me Little Sunshine” from Impera in 2022.
The one thing I love about seeing Ghost live is their stage sets. They always go out to do some really fun things on stage. This time, they truly went all out with a massive screen at the back of the stage displaying their church background, with stained-glass windows, a Hell-like setting, and other fun touches like animated lyrics. And yes, there was confetti everywhere when they performed “Mummy Dust” with a new version of the Ghost Money. I was somehow lucky enough to get one. Papa V Perpetua always entertains by interacting with the crowd. He called out one of the local police officers roaming the pit. He stated the officer was there to keep the fans safe from him, which got a good laugh. And Papa V blew kisses to the crowd towards the end of the night.
It wouldn’t be a Ghost show without an encore. This one contained 3 songs of “Mary on a Cross”, “Dance Macabre” (with disco ball lighting which was fantastic), and the most-streamed Ghost song ever (over 263 million streams on Spotify alone!) in “Square Hammer”.
This was such an amazing opening tour night. Do yourself a favor and go see them if they come to a city near you. You will not be disappointed and truly enjoy this show. If you can’t make it to one of their shows, ensure to support the band by buying their merch or music at ghost-official.com.
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