{"id":194032,"date":"2026-02-26T01:51:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194032\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T01:51:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T01:51:22","slug":"ghosts-shock-rock-descends-upon-anaheims-honda-center-san-bernardino-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/194032\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghost\u2019s shock rock descends upon Anaheim\u2019s Honda Center \u2013 San Bernardino Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the night sky had hardly\u00a0a cloud in sight, a darkness still engulfed the Honda Center.<\/p>\n

Ghost<\/a>, the Swedish heavy rock band often associated with demonic imagery and shock rock aesthetics, took the Anaheim venue by storm on Saturday, Feb. 21, before the group\u2019s final Skeletour stop at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood on Monday, Feb. 23.<\/p>\n

The band opened its set behind a black textured wall that served as a curtain and resembled something from an eerie dark-fantasy novel. The setting paired perfectly with the gospel-like introduction of \u201cPeacefield,\u201d while a white light pierced through the cracks of the barrier.<\/p>\n

As the intro transitioned into \u201980s power-chord riffs, the guitar blared from the speakers, and an explosive boom rocked the room, revealing the group in all its glory. Tobias Forge, aka Cardinal Copia, and his cabal of Nameless Ghouls, sporting top hats, black veils and jeweled skeletal suits, commanded the packed arena.<\/p>\n

Ghost performed songs from its latest release, \u201cSkeleta,\u201d including \u201cPeacefield, \u201cLachryma,\u201d \u201cUmbra,\u201d and the single \u201cSatanized.\u201d Aside from playing these handful of new songs, most of the two-hour theatrical performance featured several of the group\u2019s classics.<\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/p>\n

Lead singer Tobias Forge of the Swedish rock band Ghost performs on Saturday, February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Swedish rock band Ghost performs on February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Swedish rock band Ghost performs on February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/p>\n

Lead singer Tobias Forge of the Swedish rock band Ghost performs on Saturday, February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/p>\n

Fans of the Swedish rock band Ghost dress up and wear makeup before the start of the band\u2019s performance on February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Swedish rock band Ghost performs on February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Swedish rock band Ghost performs on February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/p>\n

Lead singer Tobias Forge of the Swedish rock band Ghost performs on Saturday, February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/p>\n

Fans of the Swedish rock band Ghost dress up and wear makeup before the start of the band\u2019s performance on February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/p>\n

Lead singer Tobias Forge of the Swedish rock band Ghost performs on Saturday, February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

\"Lead<\/p>\n

Lead singer Tobias Forge of the Swedish rock band Ghost performs on Saturday, February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 11<\/p>\n

Lead singer Tobias Forge of the Swedish rock band Ghost performs on Saturday, February 22, 2026, at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Photo by Steven Georges, Contributing Photographer)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Attendees were treated to some of the heavier songs from the 2015 release \u201cMelora,\u201d including \u201cCirice\u201d and the galloping guitars of \u201cMummy Dust,\u201d performed closer to the end of the set. The show also featured some throwbacks, such as \u201cSatan Prayer,\u201d \u201cYear Zero,\u201d and the regular closer \u201cMonstrance Clock.\u201d Other highlights included a rousing \u201cHe Is\u201d and \u201cPrequelle\u201d-era headbanger \u201cRats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The encore included the metal-meets-Abba hit \u201cDance Macabre\u201d and \u201cSquare Hammer,\u201d one of Ghost\u2019s signature songs, one that caused fans to cheer in delight upon hearing the first note.<\/p>\n

The event\u2019s production lived up to its arena-rock expectations, with new layers peeled back throughout the night, advancing the performance through acts in a theater show, and Forge had a costume for each occasion. The lead singer wore his signature metallic mask and dazzling black satin, paired with different capes and crowns.<\/p>\n

To maintain the surprise and mystique as well as keep the focus on the performance, attendees were required to place their cellphones in venue-provided Yondr pouches.<\/p>\n

In the first part of the show, Forge led the ghouls in a fog-lit performance in which members stood on platforms\u00a0made to look like bones and skulls. The next act introduced the singer as his stage persona, Papa Emiritus, a demonic anti-pope who appeared to levitate over the band. His presence also expanded the stage, revealing multiple screens displaying digital stained-glass windows that resembled a cathedral. In the prequel to the final act, all hell broke loose, summoning flames from the ground and shattering the cathedral\u2019s glass, where the red-skinned devil appeared.<\/p>\n

For the uninitiated, the imagery might be unsettling, but Ghost is working within a lineage dating back to at least Alice Cooper, who used props and pyrotechnics, including guillotines, electric chairs, fake blood and more. It\u2019s a style that fuses heavy metal and rock with highly theatrical live performances that carry a strong sense of shock value, and the music is often paired with attention-grabbing imagery such as costumes, masks, face paint, special effects, and other elements of horror. It\u2019s a genre that has included bands such as Kiss<\/a>, Slipknot<\/a>, Brazilian thrash metal outfit Crypta<\/a>, as well as contemporary acts like Sleep Token<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a 2019 interview with Billboard<\/a>, Forge described his use of the dark imagery \u201cas a symbol of liberation, rather than a symbol of actual tyranny and evil.\u201d He said its importance came from seeing himself as \u201ca born rebel and a natural opposer.\u201d<\/p>\n

So when Ghost fans show up dressed in black, faces painted a pale white with heavy black eyeshadow, banging their heads, the altar they\u2019re really praying to, he seems to say, is rock and roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the night sky had hardly\u00a0a cloud in sight, a darkness still engulfed the Honda Center. Ghost, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,7,6998,611,420],"class_list":{"0":"post-194032","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-music-concerts","13":"tag-orange-county","14":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}