Ghost, like the rest of every artist out there, didn't get out on the road for a while there due to COVID. Now as safety measures become more prevalent and people have a better sense of how to keep themselves safe, tours are happening as they were pre-pandemic.
In an interview with Drinks With Johnny, Ghost mastermind Tobias Forge takes issue with bands that are now canceling tours due to not being satisfied with the bottom line and blaming COVID. Forge says that sends the wrong message to fans about the safety of live shows, and might even deter them from going in the future.
"Well, the problem now is that a lot of these bands find the bottom line not to be satisfactory. They don't go out and say, 'Look, we're not making as much money as we wish, so we're going to cancel or we're going to postpone till the stars are aligned and the marketplace looks better.'
"They go on and tell the crowd, 'Oh, because of safety concerns we're not touring,' and that is a fucking horrible message to the crowd, to the rest of the business to everyone that we're all relying on – as in all the promoters and everyone working at the venues, everybody working as vendors, all the crew members, all the busing companies, all the truck companies, all these people who just had their tour canceled just because these four or five dudes/girls just decided that the money wasn't great. And then they go out and tell 'Oh, by the way, don't even go to shows because it's not safe.'
"That is what becomes if one band decides to go and say like, 'No, [it's] because of safety, it's not safe to tour because of COVID.' Of course, you're sending a message to the crowd that 'Oh, maybe it's not [safe]… And it takes a lot of courage for a lot of people to go out. It takes a lot of courage for people to go to show to a show. And when one band goes out and says, 'Oh, we're not going to tour because of safety concerns, because the world is not a safe place because of COVID.' It does say to the fan that 'Oh, maybe that's right. I shouldn't even go out now.'"
Honestly, Forge isn't wrong. Of course it's important to understand the risk of any activity during COVID and making decisions that are best for you and the people you're around, but over-inflating (or underestimating) risk can paint a different picture that can create a different world.
