Ghost cancel show last-minute due to Tobias Forge having food poisoning

Ghost cancelled the first of three planned Mexico City concerts at the last minute on Tuesday (September 23).

Shortly before the Swedish hard rock/heavy metal collective’s show at Palacio de los Departes was due to start, they issued a statement saying that frontman/founder Tobias Forge (who performs onstage as masked frontman Papa V Perpetua) had contracted food poisoning and was unable to play.

The band say that their other two Palacio de los Departes shows, scheduled for tonight (September 24) and Thursday (September 25), will proceed despite the setback.

They write on social media: “It is with deep regret that we must inform you the ghost show tonight, September 23, has been cancelled. Tobias Forge is suffering from food poisoning, which makes it impossible for the band to perform. The concerts scheduled for September 24 and 25 will take place as planned.

“If you purchased your tickets online, your refund will be automatically processed to the card used for the purchase, according to the timelines set by your banking institution.

“If you purchased your tickets at Ticketmaster outlets, you may request your refund starting on September 26 at the same location where you made your purchase.”

Ghost’s Mexico City dates, promoted earlier this week with the help of a spooky mariachi band, are the final stops on their worldwide Skeletour, promoting this year’s album Skeletá. The tour is notable for being completely phone-free, a format Ghost first experimented with for two concerts in Inglewood in October 2023, which were filmed and eventually released as part of their Rite Here Rite Now film.

The phone ban is enforced using Yondr pouches: magnetically sealed bags that are kept on the attendee’s person. The attendee’s mobile phone is sealed inside by security on the way into the auditorium, and the only way for it to be unsealed is by security personnel on the way out of the show. Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge) who portrays masked lead singer Papa V Perpetua onstage) has called the practice a “life-changer”.

“Just walking off stage first night [of the tour] was just, like, this has completely changed the entire outlook of how this feels,” he said at a live Q&A in Birmingham, UK. “So, yeah, now we’re doing that. And I think that there are a lot of bands that are looking at this and just, like, ‘OK, so how do we do that too?’”

In 2024, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson told Metal Hammer that he’s a big fan of Ghost’s phone-free concerts. When Maiden announced their Run For Your Lives 50th-anniversary tour last year, manager Rod Smallwood urged fans to keep phones in their pockets as much as possible. The band will play a show at La Défense Arena in Paris in June where phones are banned, using the same Yondr pouches in place at Ghost gigs.