Tobias Forge joins Lars Winnerbäck onstage in Sweden for surprise, unmasked performance

Ghost’s Tobias Forge joined fellow Swede Lars Winnerbäck onstage in Linköping on Friday night (October 10).

At his hometown’s SAAB Arena, an unmasked, suited-up Tobias came out to sing and play guitar for Lars’ early ’00s songs Elden and Dunkla Rum, much to the surprise and delight of the thousands in attendance – and of course even more online afterwards. Ghost fans on Reddit later joked that it was “trippy” and even felt “illegal” to see Tobias not wearing his usual Papa get-ups, but that it was also “super cool” and that the frontman appeared “free and happy”.

Speaking to Kerrang! earlier this year about keeping up Ghost’s lore while also not being anonymous anymore, Tobias reflected, “It’s weird, but our fans know what’s important to them, and that’s where we put all the creativity and the lore. It was very hard keeping myself hidden all those years. And then when everyone saw who I was, the whole thing didn’t collapse. It didn’t matter – everything around the band was so strong.”

Check out fan-footage below:

Catch Tobias back in his mask with Ghost at the following:

Skeletour World Tour 2026

January

21 Orlando, FL — Kia Center
22 Jacksonville, FL — VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena
24 Knoxville, TN — Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center
25 Charlotte, NC — Spectrum Center
26 Greenville, SC — Bon Secours Wellness Arena
28 Uncasville, CT — Mohegan Sun Arena
30 Montreal, QC — Bell Centre
31 Toronto, ON — Scotiabank Arena

February

2 Columbus, OH — Nationwide Arena
4 Cincinnati, OH — Heritage Bank Center
5 Peoria, IL — Peoria Civic Center Arena
7 Tulsa, OK — BOK Center
10 Salt Lake City, UT — Delta Center
12 Spokane, WA — Spokane Arena
14 Vancouver, BC — Rogers Arena
15 Seattle, WA — Climate Pledge Arena
17 Portland, OR — Moda Center
20 Sacramento, CA — Golden 1 Center
21 Anaheim, CA — Honda Center
23 Inglewood, CA — Intuit Dome

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• Ghoul The World: How Ghost catapulted out of the underground with Opus Eponymous
• 13 essential Ghost songs you need to know