Ghost’s sixth album Skeletá arrives this Friday (25 April), and Tobias Forge and his Anonymous Ghouls have already kicked off celebrations with a brand new tour, the cleverly-named Skeletour.

The band made headlines final month when Forge revealed his plans to make the tour phone-free, mandating that concert-goers place their smartphones in sealing Yondr pouches all through every present.

“If in case you have 10,000 individuals at a live performance and eight,000 of them are holding a telephone, there’s one thing deeply disconnected,” he reasoned.

The announcement ignited debate on the web, with some followers commending the telephone ban, and others saying filming is now merely a part of the live performance expertise. “Many individuals need to share their expertise and why shouldn’t they?” one fan wrote.

Now, the choice to make the Skeletour a phone-free expertise is sparking debate once more, after followers on the band’s latest Birmingham present on 20 April reported a wait of as much as an hour and a half to get into the Utilita Enviornment.

“Been queuing for Ghost for 1.5 hours and nonetheless not in,” one fan writes on X. “Ropes at 6:30 and band at 8? Who’s concept was that? It’s virtually like Utilita Birmingham forgot there’s 16,000 individuals to seat. Absolute shit present.”

Been queueing for Ghost for 1.5hrs and nonetheless not in.
Ropes at 6:30 and band at 8? Who’s concept was that?
It is virtually like Utilita Birmingham forgot there’s 16 thousand individuals to seat. Absolute shit present. @thebandGHOST #SKELETOUR #skeletour2025

— Autumn (@Fluffy_Pickle_) April 20, 2025

One other writes: “Holy shit. The queue to get into Ghost on the Utilita Enviornment Birmingham reaches as much as the Library of Birmingham and so far as the attention can see each path. I’ve by no means seen something like this earlier than in my entire lifetime of coming to gigs on the town.”

For reference, the Library of Birmingham, per Google Maps, is a few six-minute stroll – uninhibited – from the Utilita Enviornment.

The identical gig-goer claims the Prince of Wales pub – located within the path of the queue – even supplied followers pints of beer in plastic cups to ease their frustration.

Holy shit. The queue to get in to @thebandGHOST at @UtilitaArenaBHM reaches as much as the Library of Birmingham and so far as the attention can see each path. I’ve by no means seen something like this earlier than in my entire lifetime of coming to gigs on the town 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Sr1RHXtwFY

— Kirsty Bosley (@Bozzers) April 20, 2025

On the time of writing, neither Ghost or the Utilita Enviornment have commented on the wait time, or confirmed it was as a result of band’s no-phones coverage.

“I’m not saying that every one social media is unhealthy,” Forge mentioned when he introduced the telephone ban.

“I’m simply saying that with regards to the precise dwell present, my calling, my purpose for being there may be the connection between myself and everyone that I introduced with me which might be working in tandem to provide you an expertise, that have is totally de-cocked if everyone’s simply filming. Am I flawed? Am I proper? I don’t know. That’s how I, and we, felt.”

In different information, Tobias Forge not too long ago revealed why he refused to move up an invite to play at Black Sabbath’s upcoming Again to the Starting reunion gig.

“We have been requested to partake within the Sabbath live performance, and we couldn’t – so we mentioned, ‘We’ll simply ship our singer!’” he mentioned.

Ghost’s Skeletour continues tonight (22 April) in Antwerp, Belgium. For a full checklist of dates, head to the band’s web site.