“People won’t want to be on their phone if you’re engaging with them correctly”: Damon Albarn disagrees with Bob Dylan banning phones at gigs
The widespread prevalence of mobile phone recording during shows is an inescapable reality of live music in 2024, but some are fighting back. Bob Dylan, for example, just announced a UK and Europe leg of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, and will prohibit the use of mobile phones during the shows.
At the gigs, fans will be instructed to put their phones into protective Yondr pouches that are locked while the concert is going on. To use them, they must step outside the venue.
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And while many will no doubt welcome the move, some – including Blur frontman Damon Albarn – think it’s a little heavy-handed, and not entirely practical.
In a new interview with the BBC, Albarn explains his reservations about banning phones at live shows, saying the onus should be on the performer to ensure the audience is thoroughly engaged.
“If you start banning things, where does it end?” he says. “I think you’ve just got to turn up and do your thing.”
“People won’t want to be on their phone if you’re engaging with them correctly,” he adds.
While Bob Dylan is the current poster boy for the banning of mobile phones during gigs, he is only the latest in a string of artists to take up the cause. Other artists to have banned them include Tool, Guns N’ Roses, The Lumineers and Jack White.
Many, like Dylan, have used Yondr’s locking pouches to enforce no-phone policies. These pouches have been used in schools to prevent students from being distracted during lessons since 2014, and have since begun to be used for live entertainment.
For tickets and a full list of dates for Bob Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, visit his official website.
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