We Bought Tickets to Ghost’s Jacksonville Show and it was a Near-Religious Experience
The Crowd Became the Congregation at Ghost's "Skeletour" Jacksonville Tour Stop
By James Walton - February 3, 2026
Ghost makes a haunting return to Jacksonville, Florida, in a dazzling theatrical performance starring the newest face of the band: Papa V Perpetua. After the cancellation of the band’s last stop in 2023 due to Hurricane Idalia, the city welcomed the band back with a roaring crowd and raised hands.
The second stop of Ghost’s 2026 Skeletour World Tour, the show was very similar to the original Skeletour, but no less spectacular. With dazzling costumes and sets, witty banter from Perpetua, and enough fire to satiate a pyromaniac, the show quickly lived up to its name as a Ritual.
A very controversial element to both Skeletours that Ghost frontman Tobias Forge introduced was a strict no-phones policy — no photos, no videos. You either left your phone outside or had it locked up in a pouch to ensure nothing was captured during the shows. Many people were, and still are, extremely skeptical of this decision, and I believe they are justified in that. After all, one of the big reasons this band soared into popularity the way it did was people sharing fancams and talking about the different characters interacting on stage. Some people may feel like this decision is Forge metaphorically shooting himself and the band in the foot, but after experiencing the show for myself, I could not disagree more.
While Ghost rituals have always been more intimate in nature, being in a crowd where nobody was focused on their phone took it to an entirely new level. Papa Perpetua felt wildly more involved with the crowd than in recent years, and watching not just the pit, but everybody in the arena responding to the music with no barrier was an electrifying experience that I’ve rarely felt at other shows. Hearing the whole crowd chant along to songs like “Per Aspera ad Inferi” and “Year Zero” was truly breathtaking and made it feel connected on a whole other level.
Another highlight of not just this Skeletour performance, but all of Ghost’s previous rituals, are the numerous backup performers known as the Nameless Ghouls. With eight in total accompanying Forge this tour, while we don’t technically know their identities, each one is a very talented musician whose role in the performance just brings it to a whole new level from the studio. A fan-favorite moment for all rituals that I had the luck of experiencing is the female vocalists harmonizing with Forge during “Per Aspera ad Inferi” to create something unique from the studio version of the song, but equally, if not more so, hauntingly beautiful.
In fact, the term hauntingly beautiful could be used to describe the ritual as a whole. From the opening song, “Peacefield,” building up to the curtain drop, to the closing “Square Hammer” leaving us on an energetic high note, every little detail of this show was clearly thought out by Forge to provide the fans with a near-religious experience, as if we were actually attending the clergy depicted within the band’s lore.
