John 5 – Club Wintercircus Ghent 2026

John 5 – Club Wintercircus Ghent: A Guitar Legend Makes History in Belgium

For over three decades, John 5 has been one of the most celebrated, versatile, and genuinely extraordinary guitarists on the planet. He has played alongside Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, David Lee Roth, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Meat Loaf, and Dolly Parton. He is now the lead guitarist of Mötley Crüe. He has released a dozen solo albums showcasing a style that ranges from country picking to metal shredding with equal fluency.

And on Friday, May 22, 2026 at 7:30 PM, he plays Club Wintercircus in Ghent, Belgium as part of his first-ever full solo European tour.

That last fact deserves emphasis. For all the stages John 5 has shared with some of rock music's biggest names, this May 2026 tour is the first time European audiences have ever had the chance to see him headline on his own terms, on his own stage, in their own cities. Ghent is one of only a handful of European dates on the entire tour, and the opportunity it represents — for guitar lovers, for rock fans, for anyone who wants to see one of the world's great instrumentalists up close in an intimate venue — is not something that will come around again easily.

Tickets are available at tinyurl.com/john5tixx and through TicketSwap. Doors open at 7:00 PM.

Thirty Years as Rock's Most In-Demand Guitarist

The name John 5 is one that resonates differently depending on who you ask, but it resonates with everyone who has spent serious time listening to rock music over the past three decades. Born John William Lowery in Grosse Pointe, Michigan in 1971, he developed his extraordinary guitar skills from childhood and moved to Los Angeles in his teens to pursue music professionally.

His career trajectory is unlike almost any other guitarist of his era. He has never been a frontman, never the face of his own band in the conventional sense — he has spent his career as the guitarist beside the icon, the musician whose playing defines the sound of whoever he is working with. And the list of those people tells you something remarkable about both his adaptability and his quality.

From Marilyn Manson to Rob Zombie to Mötley Crüe

John 5 spent five years as the guitarist in Marilyn Manson's band from 1998 to 2004, appearing on the albums Mechanical Animals, Holy Wood, and The Golden Age of Grotesque — three of the most commercially and critically significant records of Manson's career.

He then joined Rob Zombie's band, a partnership that lasted nearly two decades and produced some of the most ferocious live rock performances of the era. His guitar work on Rob Zombie's albums and on stage was a defining element of the band's sound throughout that period.

In 2022, he was announced as the new guitarist for Mötley Crüe — stepping into one of the most storied slots in hard rock history. His debut with Mötley Crüe on their 2023 stadium tour confirmed what those who had followed his career already knew: he is one of the finest live rock guitarists in the world.

The Solo Work: Where the Real Range Is Revealed

Since 2011, John 5 has released a dozen solo albums that showcase a side of his playing that gets partially obscured by the heavy rock context in which most audiences encounter him.

The solo work reveals a musician with a profound and genuine connection to country guitar alongside his metal credentials. He cites Merle Travis, Albert Lee, and the entire tradition of chicken-pickin' country guitar as equally fundamental to his playing as the metal influences. The result is a style that can move from blazing, technically astonishing metal shredding to delicate, melodic country fingerpicking within a single performance — a range that few guitarists in any genre can match.

His solo shows, by all accounts, are celebrations of that full range. Audiences expecting a straightforward metal set routinely come away describing an experience that covered far more musical ground than they anticipated.

The First-Ever Solo European Tour: Why This Moment Matters

When the tour was announced on February 11, 2026, the response from European rock and guitar communities was immediate. John 5 himself made clear what the tour means to him:

"I don't think I've ever been more excited for a tour than this one coming up. I haven't been there in so long and I can't wait to say hello and have a great time with everyone. Super SUPER excited."

That enthusiasm is genuine and reciprocal. The tour opened on May 5 in Southampton and has moved through 12 UK cities before crossing to continental Europe. By the time John 5 reaches Ghent on May 22, the tour will be fully in its stride — 17 shows deep, the band tightly locked in, the setlist honed to precision.

The Ghent show sits in the heart of the European run:

• May 19: Tilburg, Netherlands – Hall of Fame
• May 20: Leeuwarden, Netherlands – Neushoorn
• May 21: Montreuil, France – Bal Chavaux (added date)
• May 22: Ghent, Belgium – Club Wintercircus
• May 23: Cologne, Germany – Club Volta
• May 24: Hamburg, Germany – Molotow

Belgium gets the one date in the Benelux/Belgium corridor of the tour. There is no other Belgian show. If you're in Belgium or within a few hours of Ghent, this is your one chance on this tour.

What a John 5 Solo Show Delivers

A John 5 headline show is not a straightforward rock concert with a setlist and a support act. It is, by the accounts of those who have attended his previous solo performances in the US, closer to a master class in guitar playing wrapped inside a genuine rock event.

The show moves through the full breadth of his solo catalogue — tracks from albums including The Devil Knows My Name, Season of the Witch, Careful with That Axe, and others — while also giving him the freedom to play things he could never do in the context of Rob Zombie or Mötley Crüe. Medleys, showpieces, country interludes, and explosive shred passages coexist in a show that keeps the audience genuinely surprised throughout.

He is also one of the most naturally engaging performers on the rock circuit — funny, warm, and genuinely happy to be on stage, with a gift for connecting with an audience that makes the show feel like a personal experience rather than a production. His comment about being excited for this tour carries the ring of someone who means it, and that energy comes through in the room.

At Club Wintercircus with a capacity of approximately 350 people in the club configuration, this concert is extraordinarily intimate for an artist of John 5's calibre. The last time you'll see someone who has played stadiums with Mötley Crüe in a room this size might be a very long time from now.

Club Wintercircus: A Historic Venue Reinvented

The venue itself is one of the most characterful concert spaces in Belgium. Club Wintercircus is housed within the Wintercircus building at Platteberg 24, 9000 Ghent — a historic circus building constructed in 1885 by architect Émile De Weerdt, now reimagined as a 15,000 m² tech and cultural hub.

The original 19th-century circus architecture — high ceilings, curved walls, ornate ironwork — gives the building a quality of space and history that very few modern venues can replicate. The Club Wintercircus concert room within the complex seats and stands approximately 350, making it one of the most intimate spaces a guitarist of John 5's stature has ever headlined in Europe. The combination of the historic setting and the close-quarters atmosphere will make May 22 feel genuinely special.

Exploring Ghent Before the Show

Arriving in Ghent for a Friday evening concert gives you a full day in one of Belgium's most beautiful and underrated cities. Ghent in May is at its best — warm, lively, and full of the energy of a medieval city inhabited by a large student population that keeps it young and creative.

Must-See Spots in Ghent on Concert Day

• The Ghent Altarpiece at Sint-Baafskathedraal is genuinely one of the greatest works of art in Western history — the Van Eyck brothers' 15th-century masterpiece, viewed up close in its own chapel. Non-negotiable for any Ghent visit.
• Gravensteen Castle sits directly in the city's waterways and looks exactly as a medieval fortress should. Walk the battlements for the best views in the city.
• Graslei and Korenlei are the medieval quaysides flanking the Leie river, lined with 14th and 15th-century guild houses. On a May afternoon, the terraces along these quays are among the most pleasant in Europe.
• Patershol is Ghent's oldest quarter — a labyrinth of narrow medieval streets between the castle and the river, packed with excellent independent restaurants. The ideal neighbourhood for a pre-concert dinner.
• STAM – Ghent City Museum in the Bijloke Abbey complex tells the city's history with intelligence and warmth.

Getting to Ghent and Club Wintercircus

By train:

• From Brussels: approximately 35 minutes (frequent intercity services)
• From Bruges: approximately 25 minutes
• From Antwerp: approximately 50 minutes
• From London via Eurostar through Brussels: approximately 2.5 hours total

To Club Wintercircus: The venue at Platteberg 24 (also addressed as Lammerstraat 13) is approximately 15 minutes on foot from Ghent-Sint-Pieters station, or a short tram ride on lines 1 or 2 toward the city centre. From the historic heart of Ghent around Sint-Baafsplein, the Wintercircus is about a 10-minute walk.

One Night, One Venue, One of the World's Greatest Guitarists

John 5's excitement about this tour is the excitement of an artist finally bringing something personal and significant to audiences who have waited a long time for it. For European guitar fans, for rock music lovers across Belgium and the Netherlands, and for anyone in Ghent who wants to spend a Friday evening in the presence of truly exceptional musicianship — May 22, 2026 at Club Wintercircus is the answer.

Doors open at 7:00 PM. Show starts at 7:30 PM. Tickets are at tinyurl.com/john5tixx and on TicketSwap. The room holds 350 people. Ghent's streets, its medieval castle, its guild house quaysides, and one of the greatest guitarists alive — all within the same Friday evening.

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