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Emperor Announce Limited Dates for First U.S. Tour Since 2007, Celebrating Classic Album

Black metal legends Emperor have just announced a limited run of U.S. tour dates, their first proper tour through the country since 2007, and they'll continue to celebrate their classic sophomore album,  Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk .

Their stateside return will take place from June 23 through July 1 with just five dates in select cities — Chicago, Brooklyn, Dallas, Los Angeles and Anaheim, so it's likely that countless diehard fans will have to travel a fair distance for a chance to catch Emperor live.

Despite not touring the U.S. in any capacity since 2007, Emperor haven't been complete strangers having performed on the 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise (which departs from Florida) and made an appearance at the Psycho Las Vegas festival in 2020 and 2022, respectively.

As added reassurance, the band has even confirmed on social media that those pesky work visas that are often to blame for canceled tours near the last minute have already been secured, so these select shows should go off without being inhibited by U.S. Customs.and Border Protection.

A promotional flyer also confirms that special guests will join Emperor, but those acts have yet to be announced.

Look for tickets to go on sale on Feb. 17 at this location  and see all upcoming stops below.

In related news, Emperor leader Ihsahn recently announced the  Fascination Street Sessions EP alongside a brand new song "Contorted Monuments," featuring Katatonia singer Jonas Renkse . That will be released on March 24 through Candlelight Records and you can obtain additional information here .

Emperor 2023 U.S. Tour Dates

June 23 — Chicago, Ill. @ Aragon Ballroom June 25 — Brooklyn, N.Y. @ Kings Theatre June 28 — Dallas, Texas @ South Side Ballroom June 30 — Los Angeles, Calif. @ YouTube Theater July 01 — Anaheim, Calif. @ House Of Blues

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EMPEROR Announces First U.S. Tour In Over 15 Years

Norwegian black metallers EMPEROR will embark on their first U.S. tour in over 15 years this summer.

All work visas for the "Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk" 2023 tour are already issued and the band is excited to finally return to the North American shores.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 17 at 10 a.m. EST via www.vivapsycho.com .

Jun. 23 - Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom Jun. 25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre Jun. 28 - Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom Jun. 30 - Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater Jul. 01 - Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues

Back in 2019, EMPEROR frontman Ihsahn (real name: Vegard Sverre Tveitan ) once again dismissed the idea of the band writing and recording a comeback album. The band's last studio album, "Prometheus - The Discipline Of Fire & Demise" , was released in 2001 and was written entirely by Ihsahn . The band broke up shortly thereafter, with Ihsahn going on to pursue a solo career, while guitarist Samoth (real name: Tomas Thormodsæter Haugen ) partook in a variety of bands, including SCUM and ZYKLON . EMPEROR has reunited frequently in ensuing years to perform live, but has continually resisted calls to release new material, something Ihsahn said won't change anytime soon.

"As you know, EMPEROR developed, at some point, I ended up making more and more of the music and eventually, I did all the music," he told Loud TV . "We'd rather stop at the level where we were all creatively involved, rather than doing it for keeping the logo or for any of those reasons. At this point, there's so much nostalgia attached to what we do, and we've been in the privileged position that people have developed similar relationships to these old songs that we did, as we are fans, to other bands. It's a very humbling position to be in. If you turned it around, what kind of EMPEROR could we possibly do? What kind of EMPEROR could we possibly do? We should make something that sounds like old EMPEROR ? Or should we do something like EMPEROR would sound today? If it was up to me, EMPEROR would sound like my solo records because that's how I write metal. It's kind of a lose-lose thing. The whole point of black metal, people want something that is real and has integrity of what it is. At this point, none of us can see any reason to do that beyond what we already do. Just speaking for myself, I get to play all these old songs to people who have this strong relationship to it, in a similar way as I as a fan, have. But I also get to do my solo albums and continue that musical journey, and I see no reason to change that. We are at a very fine position now that we all just get to do what all of us wants. If there's some kind of festival or some kind of show that doesn't fit into our schedule, that's fine. We do just the stuff that is cool for us to do."

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EMPEROR announce first U.S. tour in 15 years

Norwegian black-metal vets Emperor  have announced their first U.S. tour in 15 years. The band helmed by Insahn and Samoth played their first show on American soil since 2007 during last year's Psycho Las Vegas festival, and now they're returning for a small handful of dates in several major cities. 

Dubbed the "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" tour, Emperor will kick of the trek June 23rd in Chicago and then play shows in New York, Texas and California, concluding with a stop at Anaheim's House of Blues on July 1st. Tickets go on sale Friday Feburary 17th at 10 a.m. local time. See the full itinerary below. 

Emperor 2023 U.S. tour dates: 6/23 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom 6/25 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre 6/28 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom 6/30 Los Angeles, CA YouTube Theater 7/01 Anaheim, CA House of Blues

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Emperor announce first U.S. tour in over 15 years

by Zenae Zukowski | Feb 13, 2023 | News , Touring | 0 comments

Emperor will return to the U.S. for their first U.S. tour in over fifteen years. The Norwegian black metal legends announced their Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk trek will kick off on June 23rd in Chicago, IL and run through July 1st in Anaheim, CA. Tickets go on sale this Friday (17th) at 10:00 AM EST.

Tour Dates:

06/23 Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom

06/25 Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre

06/28 Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom

06/30 Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater

07/01 Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues

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Emperor Announce First US Tour in Over 15 Years

The post Emperor Announce First US Tour in Over 15 Years appeared first on Consequence .

Emperor have announced the “Anthems to Welken at Dusk” US summer tour — the Norwegian black metal band’s first stateside trek in over 15 years.

The five-show run will hit major markets in June and July: Chicago (June 23rd); Brooklyn, New York (June 25th); Dallas (June 28th); Los Angeles (June 30th); and Anaheim, California (July 1st). Support has yet to be announced.

A Live Nation pre-sale begins Thursday (February 16th) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster using the code CHORUS , with general ticket sales starting Friday (February 17th). You can also pick up tickets for sold-out concerts via StubHub .

Considering the name of the tour, it’s safe to assume Emperor will be performing all or much of their seminal 1997 album Anthems to Welken at Dusk each night. The band previously headlined last year’s Psycho Las Vegas festival , playing six songs from the LP during its set.

Although Emperor haven’t released new music since 2001, the group continues to make select live appearances while band mastermind Ihsahn remains active in a solo capacity. He has most recently dropped a pair of EPs in 2020, started beef with Taylor Swift , and helped produce Matt Heafy’s black metal project Ibaraki .

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You can see the full list of Emperor’s 2023 US tour dates below. Get tickets here , and for sold out gigs, here .

Emperor’s 2023 US Tour Dates: 06/23 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom 06/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre 06/28 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom 06/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater 07/01 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues

Emperor Announce First US Tour in Over 15 Years Jon Hadusek

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Emperor Announce First US Tour in Over 15 Years

The five-date run will hit major markets in June and July

Emperor have announced the “Anthems to Welken at Dusk” US summer tour — the Norwegian black metal band’s first stateside trek in over 15 years.

The five-show run will hit major markets in June and July: Chicago (June 23rd); Brooklyn, New York (June 25th); Dallas (June 28th); Los Angeles (June 30th); and Anaheim, California (July 1st). Support has yet to be announced.

A Live Nation pre-sale begins Thursday (February 16th) at 10 a.m. local time via Ticketmaster using the code CHORUS , with general ticket sales starting Friday (February 17th). You can also pick up tickets for sold-out concerts via StubHub .

Considering the name of the tour, it’s safe to assume Emperor will be performing all or much of their seminal 1997 album Anthems to Welken at Dusk each night. The band previously headlined last year’s Psycho Las Vegas festival , playing six songs from the LP during its set.

Although Emperor haven’t released new music since 2001, the group continues to make select live appearances while band mastermind Ihsahn remains active in a solo capacity. He has most recently dropped a pair of EPs in 2020, started beef with Taylor Swift , and helped produce Matt Heafy’s black metal project Ibaraki .

Black-Metal Legend Ihsahn Calls Out Taylor Swift Over Album Artwork

You can see the full list of Emperor’s 2023 US tour dates below. Get tickets here , and for sold out gigs, here .

Emperor’s 2023 US Tour Dates: 06/23 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom 06/25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre 06/28 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom 06/30 – Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater 07/01 – Anaheim, CA @ House of Blues

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Emperor Announces Summer 2023 US Tour Dates for the First Time in 15 Years

Tatiana Retamar

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EMPEROR US TOUR ANNOUNCED

Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk USA tour dates announced. This will be Emperor ’s first US tour in over 15 years. All work visas are already issued and the band is excited to finally return to the North American shores. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10AM EST, Psycho subscribers get early access starting tomorrow. Visit www.vivapsycho.com for more info.

Related show

• Artist: Emperor
• Tour: Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk USA 2023
• Date: 23/06/23
• Venue: Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom
• City: Chicago , IL
• Address: 1106 W Lawrence Ave
• Country: United States
• Age restrictions: No Minors
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• EMPEROR Latin America tour coming up!
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EMPEROR Announces First U.S. Tour In Over 15 Years

Norwegian black metallers EMPEROR will embark on their first U.S. tour in over 15 years this summer, entitled “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk 2023 “ . The band is excited to finally return to the North American shores, and will be joined by currently-unknown “special guests”.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 17 at 10 a.m. EST via Vivapsycho .

EMPEROR 2023 US Tour Dates:

Jun. 23 – Chicago, IL @ Aragon Ballroom Jun. 25 – Brooklyn, NY @ Kings Theatre Jun. 28 – Dallas, TX @ South Side Ballroom Jun. 30 – Los Angeles, CA @ YouTube Theater Jul. 01 – Anaheim, CA @ House Of Blues

“Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk” was recorded at the famous Grieg Hall throughout the fall of 1996 by famed black metal producer Eirik “Pytten” Hundvin . It was EMPEROR ‘s second studio album.

EMPEROR 2023 US Tour Dates

EMPEROR ‘s last studio album, “Prometheus – The Discipline Of Fire & Demise” , was released in 2001 and was written entirely by Ihsahn . The band broke up shortly thereafter, with Ihsahn going on to pursue a solo career, while guitarist Samoth partook in a variety of bands, including SCUM and ZYKLON . EMPEROR has reunited frequently in ensuing years to perform live, but has continually resisted calls to release new material, something Ihsahn said won’t change anytime soon.

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America's Emperor, San Francisco's Treasure: Who Was Emperor Norton?

Please try again

If you’ve taken a walking tour of San Francisco, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the name Emperor Norton.

That was how Bay Curious listener and Oakland resident Jennifer Jacobs first learned about the beloved San Francisco eccentric after she moved to the Bay Area from Michigan in 1999.

“I was just like, ‘Wow, this is a whole other world. They have their own emperor here in San Francisco,’ ” Jennifer says.

Ever since, Jennifer has wanted to know more. Who was Emperor Norton? How was he seen in his own time? And why is he still remembered and revered today, almost 140 years after his death?

Not much is known about Emperor Norton’s early life, according to John Lumea, president of the Emperor’s Bridge Campaign , which focuses on researching Norton’s life and sharing it with the public.

Here’s what we do know.

The rise and fall of a Gold Rush businessman

Emperor Norton was born Joshua Abraham Norton in 1818 to Jewish parents in present-day London. At age 2, he moved with his parents to South Africa, where his dad set up a successful ship supplies business.

At 21, with help from his father, Norton opened his own ship supplies business, but it went bankrupt within 18 months. Things went from bad to worse over the next few years, and by 1848, both of Norton’s parents and two of his siblings had died.

The following year, Norton left South Africa, and after a short stop in South America, landed in San Francisco in late 1849.

Norton arrived in a lawless, Wild West version of San Francisco. The Gold Rush transformed a small town of a few hundred people to a bustling metropolis of 25,000 within a few years.

It was also a town of constant rebirth. People were making and losing their fortunes in the blink of an eye. The city was almost destroyed by fires seven times between 1849 and 1851.

Norton, who had already built and lost a business in South Africa, fit right into this boom-and-bust town. He established himself as a successful businessman selling commodities like rice and flour. He invested in real estate, erecting buildings on three of the four corners of Sansome and Jackson streets — one of the most popular intersections in town — plus plots in North Beach and a lucrative waterfront property.

“He made a great amount of money and was very influential,” Lumea says of Norton’s early days in the city. “He was in with all the right people, attended all the right clubs and all the right restaurants.”

Riding high, Norton planned his next business move. With a rice famine underway in China, Norton was presented with a chance to corner the rice market by buying up a shipload of Peruvian rice. Expecting rice prices to soar, Norton went in with a couple of business partners in 1852 and staked $25,000 on the venture.

And then it all went wrong.

“Within a [few] days, ship after ship after ship of rice comes in, and so the bottom falls out of the market,” Lumea says. “This idea, which at one point seemed so great, now isn’t so great.”

The deal, and the subsequent years of legal wrangling, ruined Norton. By the time Norton was 38, in 1856, he was bankrupt for the second time.

An imperial transformation

After his financial ruin, Norton went quiet for a few years. He moved out of his prestigious home, and fell out of favor with some members of the social elite.

He re-emerged on Sept. 17, 1859, on the pages on the San Francisco Evening Bulletin newspaper. Earlier in the day, he had walked into the paper’s offices and presented the editor with a short notice he asked to have published in that day’s edition.

“At the peremptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last nine years and ten months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself Emperor of these United States,” the notice began.

At age 41, three years after losing everything, Norton christened himself Emperor of the United States. When France’s Napoleon III invaded Mexico in 1861, Norton added “Protector of Mexico” to his imperial title.

This astonishing transformation has always fascinated Bay Curious listener Jacobs.

“I majored in psychology, so I couldn’t help thinking he must have had some kind of a nervous breakdown or something happened in those few years,” she says. “I was thinking schizophrenia or bipolar disorder maybe.”

There are no sure answers about Norton’s mental health before or after his imperial declaration, but some people think his money troubles led him into a deep depression and that becoming Emperor Norton was a coping mechanism.

“There’s a sense in which the persona of the Emperor actually saved him in a way,” Lumea says.

Later in his declaration, Norton called on representatives of all the states to assemble the following February to establish his empire and “to make such alterations in the existing laws of the Union to ameliorate the evils under which the country is laboring.”

Unsurprisingly, nobody showed up.

But that didn’t stop Norton. He had declared himself emperor. And he was going to act like it for the next 20 years.

Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico

Norton continued issuing imperial proclamations on items big, like calling for the end of presidential elections, and small, like chastising the skating rink operator who wouldn’t let him use a pair of skates.

Even though he was Emperor of the United States, his proclamations were often very local in nature. He didn’t hesitate to call out San Francisco’s police and elected officials. Perhaps his most well-known proclamations were the ones calling for the construction of a bridge connecting Oakland and San Francisco through Yerba Buena Island — what we recognize today as the Bay Bridge.

Norton also adopted an imperial wardrobe. He started with either a blue or gray military jacket, switching between the two early in his “reign” to maintain his neutrality in the ongoing Civil War.

After the war, he settled on a blue officer’s jacket furnished with large, fringed, golden shoulder epaulets. His balding head was almost always covered with a hat, most often a small military kepi or a garish beaver fur top hat with a cascade of colorful feathers pinned to the front.

Being emperor did not pay very well. Norton spent most of his reign subsisting off the generosity of the public and the support of a few wealthy friends from his high society days.

In 1870, with the newly-completed transcontinental railroad bringing more tourists to San Francisco from across the country, Norton helped fill his coffers by selling “imperial bonds” for 50 cents each.

He didn’t need much money. His lodgings on Commercial Street cost him only 50 cents a night, and he spent most of his day reading the newspapers, talking with other forty-niners in Portsmouth Square and writing proclamations at the Mechanics’ Institute Library on Post Street.

For lunch, Norton could go to almost any tavern in town and for the price of a drink, no more than 25 cents, get access to a full lunch spread of salmon, roast beef, tomatoes and more.

“He really makes himself part of the life of the city,” Lumea says. “He goes to political meetings. He goes to the theater. He goes to the saloons. He makes himself a public presence. He’s in the streets.”

The city’s newspapers saw Norton as a bit of a buffoon and regularly published fake proclamations with his name attached. So, in 1870, he started publishing his genuine proclamations almost exclusively in an African-American-owned and operated abolitionist weekly, The Pacific Appeal.

Many of Norton’s proclamations, especially those in The Pacific Appeal, were surprisingly progressive for his time.

“He’s talking about how African-Americans should have the right to attend public schools, ride public streetcars. How the Chinese should be able to have their testimony heard in court,” Lumea says. Norton also argued for the rights of Native Americans and against political corruption.

“So he’s really making himself into an early champion of the values of fairness and tolerance and the common good that really later become a great symbol of San Francisco,” Lumea says.

‘Le roi est mort’

Jan. 8, 1880, was a cold and rainy night in San Francisco. Norton left his room on Commercial Street to walk the few short blocks to a debate at the Academy of Natural Sciences.

On his way there, he collapsed on the street and died of a suspected stroke.

Ten thousand people came to Norton’s funeral. The headline of his obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle read, “Le roi est mort.”

Norton died with just a few dollars in his pockets and would have been sent to a pauper’s grave, if not for the intercession of his old friends in business, who paid for a fancy rosewood coffin adorned with silver and a burial plot in the Masonic Cemetery.

“Even though often in the official world of journalism or politics he was somewhat seen as a figure of ridicule,” Lumea says, “to the people in the streets who saw him on a day-to-day basis for 20 years, he was known as a very kind person.”

Norton at 200

Almost 140 years after his death, Norton continues to captivate San Francisco.

Lumea started the Emperor’s Bridge Campaign in 2013 to try to get the Bay Bridge renamed for Emperor Norton, in recognition of him publishing the idea decades before it came to be. The Board of Supervisors designated February 2018 as “Emperor Norton Month,” and City Hall and Coit Tower were lit up gold on Feb. 4, 2018, in honor of Norton’s 200th birthday.

“Nobody really encompasses the spirit of San Francisco better than Emperor Norton,” says Joseph Amster, one of two men who walk the streets of San Francisco as official Emperor Norton impersonators.

Amster and his fellow Norton, Rick Saber, both showed up in full imperial regalia at Norton’s 200th birthday party in February at one of Norton’s favorite spots, the Mechanics’ Institute Library.

Guests came dressed in their 19th century finest, from Wild West leather chaps to Victorian dresses, to honor Norton. Kazuo Sayama came all the way from Japan to attend the party. He first learned about Norton decades ago while he was doing research for a book about San Francisco, and he was so enthralled by his story that he dedicated an entire book to just Norton and is working on a second.

“You have so many presidents,” Sayama says of the United States, “but no emperor in history. But people admire him as emperor.”

For many at the party and across the city, Norton represents the best of the Bay Area: an advocate of fairness and tolerance, a kind person and a bit of an oddball.

“He’s kind of a symbol of why this isn’t New York or why this isn’t Florida or why this isn’t Seattle,” says Tito Young, who came to the party dressed as a Wild West cowboy in brown leather chaps. “I think there’s something wonderfully eccentric about this gentleman, which I can very much identify with.”

“I’m glad there’s a strong personality in my family tree,” says Julie Driver, Norton’s great-great-great-great-niece. She lives in Ontario, Canada, and learned about her famous relative from her dad. “He found a way to make a name for himself after he lost his fortune, and I think that’s something that we should learn from.”

Bay Curious listener Jennifer Jacobs was blown away by the sustained love and attention the city continues to give Emperor Norton, and she can’t imagine it happening in any other city.

“San Francisco is a quirky town in a lot of ways,” she says, “and he kind of embodies that.”

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Emperor tour dates 2024

Emperor is currently touring across 6 countries and has 6 upcoming concerts.

Their next tour date is at Simplon in Groningen, after that they'll be at Unknown venue in Cartagena.

Currently touring across

• 🇳🇱 Netherlands
• 🇸🇮 Slovenia
• 🇨🇿 Czech Republic

Upcoming concerts (6) See nearest concert

Rock Imperium Festival

Brutal Assault

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The Metal Fest Quito

Floyd Live Music Venue

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man what can I say .truly an honour and a privilege to meet and great the band .then watch them musically inspire, intimidate,annihilate all those who were there to witness the pure brilliance and genius that is EMPEROR. 1 week on and still on a high to have been in the prescence of black metal royalty

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I was extremely fortunate to see them in Los Angeles back in 2006 at the Key Club and in Chicago 2007. I met the band both occasions and they were so polite! The show was AMAZING!! I was made fun of extensively growing up for listening to metal and I'm still listening :)

Emperor are black metal behemoths, hugely influential in developing the genre into what it is today. their performance at Hellfest this year was brutal, visceral and dominating, going full throttle right from the start. The audience was subjected to blast beats right from the start, displaying their intention to unleash their brutish intensity upon the crowd. Emperor have enjoyed a long career, although after a break, they have reformed in recent years and proved that they still have tonnes of vitality and energy that is inherent in their music. Ihsahn's vocals are scratching growls that are skin-curlingly good, backed by intense guitar riffs and pummelling drums that drive their songs along at a rapid pace. "The Burning Shadows of Silence" was a highlight of the performance, a wild, frenzied track that created a whirlwind of noise, proving to be an exhilarating listen. The band sounded tight as ever, showing they have not grown sloppy over the years and the moments of absence from the world of music. Emperor are heroes of black metal and it is clear that they intend to continue to dominate and terrorise the scene. Being in the audience for an Emperor show is a true experience and is sure to blow away any cobwebs and leave you wanting to retreat into a small ball to recollect your energies after your aural receptors have been treated to such a punishment. A fantastic act that deserve the credit they have garnered.

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Emperor Announce First U.S. Tour In 15 Years

For the first time in roughly 15 years, Norwegian black metallers Emperor will be touring the U.S. this summer. The group will launch that abbreviated run on June 23rd before heading back at home in early July. Tickets for the tour will be up this Friday, February 17th at 10:00am local time.

Notably the trek takes its name from the band’s 1997 sophomore album “ Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk “, which the band have celebrated past anniversaries for live.

06/23 Chicago, IL – Aragon Ballroom 06/25 Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre 06/28 Dallas, TX – South Side Ballroom 06/30 Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater 07/01 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues

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• June 30, 2023 Setlist

Emperor Setlist at YouTube Theater, Inglewood, CA, USA

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Tour: Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk - USA 2023 Tour statistics Add setlist

• Song played from tape Nightside Intro Play Video
• In the Wordless Chamber Play Video
• Thus Spake the Nightspirit Play Video
• Ensorcelled by Khaos Play Video
• The Loss and Curse of Reverence Play Video
• The Acclamation of Bonds Play Video
• With Strength I Burn Play Video
• Curse You All Men! Play Video
• Towards the Pantheon Play Video
• The Majesty of the Nightsky Play Video
• I Am the Black Wizards Play Video
• Inno a Satana Play Video
• Song played from tape Opus a Satana Play Video
• Into the Infinity of Thoughts Play Video
• Ye Entrancemperium Play Video
• Song played from tape The Wanderer Play Video

Note: First Los Angeles show since 2007

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9 activities (last edit by drummertqp , 1 Jul 2023, 17:59 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Ensorcelled by Khaos
• The Acclamation of Bonds
• The Loss and Curse of Reverence
• Thus Spake the Nightspirit
• With Strength I Burn
• Ye Entrancemperium
• Inno a Satana
• Into the Infinity of Thoughts
• The Majesty of the Nightsky
• Towards the Pantheon
• I Am the Black Wizards
• Curse You All Men!
• In the Wordless Chamber

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• Mäleficentt Start time: 8:00 PM 8:00 PM
• Emperor This Setlist Start time: 9:30 PM 9:30 PM

Emperor Gig Timeline

• Jun 25 2023 Kings Theatre Brooklyn, NY, USA Start time: 9:30 PM 9:30 PM
• Jun 28 2023 South Side Ballroom Dallas, TX, USA Start time: 9:40 PM 9:40 PM
• Jun 30 2023 YouTube Theater This Setlist Inglewood, CA, USA Start time: 9:30 PM 9:30 PM
• Jul 01 2023 House of Blues Anaheim, CA, USA Start time: 9:30 PM 9:30 PM
• Jul 28 2023 Artmania Festival 2023 Sibiu, Romania Add time Add time

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Things To Do | SF Walking Tour: Eccentric California’s 19th…

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Things To Do | SF Walking Tour: Eccentric California’s 19th century Emperor

This is Joseph Amster, one of a handful of reenactors in the Bay Area who LARP as the region’s greatest 19th-century eccentric, Emperor Norton I. (What do all the Nortons talk about when they get together? “Norton,” he says.) Amster’s here to give a tour of downtown’s strange and wondrous history, from trashy bordellos to a president’s deathbed and a subterranean city of smuggling tunnels and buried giant tortoises.

For those unfamiliar, Joshua A. Norton emigrated from South Africa to San Francisco in 1849 and made a fortune in real estate, before losing it all trying to corner the rice market. He disappeared for a couple of years, only to resurface declaring himself Emperor of the United States and henceforth began greeting steamships at the docks, inspecting sidewalks and buildings for quality and printing his own treasury bonds.

San Francisco in the latter half of the 1800s was crawling with characters. There was Oofty Goofty , who supposedly couldn’t feel pain and who made money by having people hit him as hard as they could. George Washington II was a phrenologist who, when not drafting imaginary battle plans for the Revolutionary War, paraded with a banner proclaiming himself the “Great Matrimonial Candidate.” There are tales of a Whispering Riley, whose speech was always inaudible, and a Drummer Boy who couldn’t stop drumming.

“You don’t get on a boat and take a six-month voyage around the horn of South America – or cross Panama on a burro in a cloud of malaria-laden mosquitoes – to get your ass to the West Coast, without being somebody who’s up for anything,” says Judi Leff, a San Francisco humorist and historian. “You had to be a little nuts to come out here.”

What’s surprising about Norton was that locals embraced and celebrated him as if he truly were the emperor. “I’m given a suit and uniform by the officers of the Presidio,” says Amster. “I eat for free in restaurants, have the best seats in the theater. On opening night, people rise in my honor. I ride transit for free. The police salute me.”

Norton was so beloved, his renown has trickled down. Amster is greeted with calls of “Emperor!” and, from one confused man, “You are the Grand Marshal!” The modern-day majesty carries a “steam-powered iPhone,” pepper spray – using his walking stick to wield off, say, the man currently screaming incoherently across the street could mean an assault charge – and his own imperial money advertising his tour company, Emperor Norton’s Fantastic San Francisco Time Machine . (I tried passing some at a bar in Chinatown; the bartender was not amused.)

A blast to the past

The first tour stop is Morton Street just east of Union Square, an historic red-light district. “Ladies openly displayed what they had to offer from the waist up,” says Amster. After the thoroughfare burned down in the 1906 earthquake, it was rebranded Maiden Lane, an upscaling that seems to have worked. Peer in the windows of 140 Maiden Lane, an Italian menswear store, and you’ll notice the shop’s interior is a miniature replica of the Guggenheim, with curved walls, skylight, and spiral ramp. Frank Lloyd Wright designed it in 1948 as a proof of concept for the real museum.

Amster stops by the Palace Hotel, a landmark building that’s housed U.S. presidents up to Clinton and Obama. One president didn’t check out: In 1923, Warren G. Harding was found dead in his eighth-floor suite. One rumor is he kicked the bucket at a speakeasy and was secretly brought back through a tunnel. Another is “he was poisoned by the first lady, who discovered he was having an affair,” says Amster. Incidentally, the hotel is also the birthplace of that fun treat , Green Goddess dressing.

As we walk through Jackson Square we encounter wavy lines in the pavement. This marks the city’s shoreline – nearly half a mile from where it is today – before settlers filled in Yerba Buena Cove to make room for growth. Part of the original seawall is viewable in a nearby saloon, the High Horse.

“It’s right beneath the main bar in what we jokingly call the catacombs,” says manager Will Herrera. “There’s old adobe, masonry, rubble from the beaches – it actually has strata to it, so you can see the layers of San Francisco of that time.”

Dig around here, and you’re likely to hit the remains of dozens of wooden ships entombed as the city expanded, as well as weirder things (as an archaeologist recently discovered ) like the skeletons of giant tortoises. Sailors voyaging to California’s gold fields would stop at the Galapagos Islands to grab these slow-moving, tasty and now-endangered animals, which one explorer described as “extraordinarily large and fat, and so sweet that no pullet eats more pleasantly.”

“They’d chuck them into the hold and they’d last forever there – they hardly needed any water or food,” says Richard Everett, former curator at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park. “Tortoise steaks were on the menu in pretty much every restaurant during the Gold Rush era.”

Barbary brothels

“We are now within the wicked, wicked Barbary Coast,” Amster says, turning onto Pacific Avenue. Gold miners arrived loaded with dust and ore, sold it and made a beeline here to get the things they couldn’t in the Sierra.

“Let’s see, that was a brothel,” says Amster. “That red-brick building? That was a brothel, as well. These were the lower-priced ones. The rooms often had an opening in the ceiling; people could pay to go into a gallery and watch.”

A former nightclub, the Hippodrome, features a bas-relief of a nearly nude man whose private parts appear scrubbed out. “They censored it at some point. Let’s just say he was aroused.” Beneath the building is an arc-shaped brick tunnel that Amster has personally visited. It was used for smuggling – “human trafficking, drugs, any sort of contraband they didn’t want people to see would be brought off the ships at night.”

The tunnel was also possibly used for shanghaiing. Runners looking to supply sea captains would lure men to saloons with promises of free booze and fun women, then the bartender would give them drinks laced with laudanum.

“In some of the bars, he would pull a lever and the guy would drop down onto a mattress in the basement,” says Daniel Bacon, local historian and author. “They would drag him out onto a ship, so by the time he woke up, the ship would already be out of the harbor, through the Golden Gate and onto the ocean.”

Folks wanting to relive this history can head up the block to the Old Ship Saloon, reputedly the city’s oldest-running bar and filled with maritime memorabilia. It once operated inside the carcass of a damaged vessel and was also a notorious den of shanghaiing. The bartender would “basically roofie them,” says Herrera, who manages this watering hole, as well. “That’s not something we’re necessarily proud of, but we’re certainly proud of the Old Ship’s legend.”

The imperial legend

Outside the Wells Fargo museum on Montgomery Street, Amster turns to a topic dear to his heart: Norton. In 2015, robbers rammed an SUV through the museum doors and stole gold nuggets dating from the Gold Rush.

“Luckily, they did not take the most valuable thing in their collection – one of my original imperial treasury bonds, the only one available for the public to view on a regular basis,” he says. Too bad for them: “The last one to come up for auction was around four years ago, and it went for $12,000.”

Amster halts at Eureka Park on Commercial Street, where Norton used to dwell in a 10-by-6-foot boardinghouse room. It was here, perhaps, that he dreamed up some of the imperial proclamations he published in newspapers: that the “western terminus of the Central Railroad be in San Francisco,” that locals support the opera because it “tends to elevate and refine the public taste,” that a mean man who wouldn’t rent him skates at an ice rink be arrested if he “perpetrate the offence the second time.”

Some of Norton’s soothsaying was prescient, like his oft-repeated idea for a bridge to Oakland in the exact location the Bay Bridge stands now. Today, you can find his proclamations safeguarded in the California State Library in Sacramento, which keeps Norton-themed literature and other bizarre history in a database called “California Oddities.”

“There was such a demand for interesting and strange history that one of our reference librarians in our California History Section put this research guide together,” says Jessica Knox-Jensen, State Library Services bureau chief. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re the only library with something like this…. Maybe California is just the right melting pot for that sort of material.”

Norton’s reign ended on Jan. 8, 1880, when he dropped dead at the corner of California Street and Grant Avenue. Doctors attributed his demise to “sanguineous apoplexy” and noted, perhaps to their surprise, that his brain’s anatomy was “quite normal.” His passing might have aggrieved holders of his treasury bonds, which were to be made payable that same year. Nevertheless, the Emperor drew one of the largest funeral crowds in city history, with a cortege stretching two miles long.

He left behind loose coins, a tattered coat and hat, scrapbooks and not much else save for an enduring – some might say inspiring – legacy.

“Maybe somebody else would’ve become so depressed they would’ve done away with themselves. But Norton managed to create a persona that allowed him to emerge from this terrible situation and have a rather high opinion of himself and through his charisma, convince other people it was fine he was the Emperor. Any other city would’ve locked the guy up, I’m convinced.”

More …

Emperor Norton’s Fantastic San Francisco Time Machine:  Emperor Norton leads this two-hour walking tour ($30) that traces the history, legends and colorful personalities of early San Francisco;  www.emperornortontour.com .

Emperor Norton Trust: Learn more about Norton and his ideas about building a Bay Bridge at http://emperornortontrust.org.

Barbary Coast Trail: Explore San Francisco historic sites from the Gold Rush to the Beat era along this trail marked by 180 bronze waymarkers. Pick up a printed ($10-$19) or audio guide ($10 each), or book a group tour ($25 per person for groups of 16 or more) with Daniel Bacon at https://barbarycoasttrail.org .

California State Library: Explore the state library’s California history collections at www.library.ca.gov/california-history/.

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Emperor norton's fantastic  waterfront time machine is also available as a charter. contact us for further details., contact links:, our associates' tours:, projects & causes:, useful san francisco links:.

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HIROHITO ARRIVES FOR TOUR IN U.S.

By Philip Shabecoff Special to The New York Times

• Oct. 1, 1975

WILLIAMSBURG, Va., Sept. 30—Emperor Hirohito stepped off a Japan Air Lines jet plane at nearby Patrick Henry Airport this morning to begin a 15‐day visit to the United States.

Never before has a reigning Japanese monarch made a formal visit to the United States. Emperor Hirohito did touch briefly in Alaska in 1971 while on his way to Europe.

Both Japanese and American officials accompanying the Emperor's party said today that his presence on American soil was an official Japanese acknowledgment of the excellent state of relations between the two nations and a token of future goodwill.

The Emperor also indicated today that his visit here was another symbol of Japan's acceptance of the outcome of world War II. His spokesman announced that the Japanese Consul General in Atlanta, Kazuo Chiba, acting in the Emperor's name, today ‐ placed a wreath at the grave of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, the supreme commander the postwar occupation, in Norfolk, Va.

The spokesman also said that the Emperor and the Empress would receive General MacArthur's widow, Jean, in New York City next week.

The Emperor's plane touched down at 10:20 A.M. after what was described as a smooth flight from Tokyo by way of Anchorage, Alaska. His spokesman said that the imperial couple had been “delighted” to see the aurora borealis or northern lights, while in Anchorage. He also said that on the approach to Alaska, the Empress, who is an accomplished artist, had made a Sketch of the darkening sky.

The Emperor, wearing a striped gray suit, emerged alone from the plane: He bowed slightly and then waved to the small crowd, which included the families of Japanese businessmen in the area, gathered at the airport.

Empress Nagako, wearing a light blue suit and hat, emerged a few moments after the Emperor and remained behind him.

The red carpet at the foot of the ramp was lined‐by‐members of the ceremonial militia of Colonial Williamsburg, clad in fringed hunting shirts, breeches and cocked felt hats. Also on hand was the Williamsburg fire‐and‐drum corps, dressed in cherry‐red swallowtail coats, faun‐colored breeches and waistcoats, white stockings and blue hats with cockades, to trill and bang a few welcoming airs.

Only somewhat less conspicuous were the swarms of Secret Service agents on hand. to protect the 74‐year‐old Emlueror. Only seven Japanese security guards made the trip, but the Secret Service, edgy because of two apparent atetempts on the life of President Ford recently, is reportedly ctaking exceptionally strong steps to guard Emperor Hirohito.

The party proceeded by motorcade to Colonial Williamsburg where they spent the rest of the day resting at the sedately luxurious Williamsburg Inn. The Emperor and Empress are staying in the “Queen's Suite”—so named because Queen Elizabeth II of Britain stayed there in 1957.

In the crowd waiting to see the Emperor as he arrived oat the inn were several signs protesting the killing of whales by Japanese whaling fleets. The spokesman said that the Emperor had not noticed the signs.

Tomorrow, the imperial couple will spend the day resting here before proceeding to Washington Thursday for official welcoming ceremonies and a meeting with President Ford.