A phone ban will be implemented on all dates for Bob Dylan's upcoming European leg of his tour. Blur frontman Damon Albarn thinks this prohibition is an overstep. Should concerts be phone-free and who's right? (Spoiler: It's neither Bob nor Damon.)
ADVERTISEMENTThere’s beef between Damon Albarn and Bob Dylan, as the Blur and Gorillaz frontman has said he disagrees with Dylan’s mobile phone ban from his tour.
In an interview with BBC, Albarn has shared his views and argued that fans having phones during gigs adds to the atmosphere of live performances.
“If you start banning things where does it end? I think you’ve just got to turn up and do your thing,” he told the outlet. “People won’t want to be on their phone if you’re engaging with them correctly.”
He added, in reference to the Wembley Stadium shows Blur performed last year, that shows can be enhanced by fans with phones. Speaking about Blur’s Wembley Stadium shows chronicled in the new Blur documentary To The End, he recalled fans holding up their phones in lieu of cigarette lighters during their performance of of the song ‘Tender’.
The topic of discussion arose following Dylan’s announcement that he’ll be performing 10 shows in the UK this winter, as part of his Rough and Rowdy Ways tour, and that a phone ban would be implemented on all dates. Attendees will be made to switch off their phones and place them into a Yondr pouch that would be locked by staff at the venue. Visitors can keep the pouch throughout the gig, but it can only be re-opened when they leave the show.
According to Dylan’s press release, the policy is intended to “make the occasion even more unique.”
Dylan joins likeminded artists such as Alicia Keys and Jack White, who also require their fans to place their phones in pouches during concerts.
White’s statement for his phone-free tour in 2022 read: “We think you’ll enjoy looking up from your gadgets for a little while and experience music and our shared love of it IN PERSON.”
Other artists who have banned phones from gigs include Prince, whose 2013 concerts advertised “Purple Rules” (a set of guidelines that included a ban on all photography, video cameras and mobile phones); Björk, who previously posted signs encouraging fans to “enjoy being part of the performance and not preoccupied with recording it"; Wilco, whose lead singer Jeff Tweedy has gone on record saying that phones ruin a musical performance; Placebo, who played some phone-free gigs in 2022 so that the audiences could “be in the moment”; and Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson, who has stated: "I personally think you should be too high to operate a machine at our concerts.”
Should phones be banned at gigs? (And why Karen O is the way to go)
There is a strong case to be made for banning phones, in order to allow more engagement with live performances. After all, live music is galvanizing and often emotional, an experience that you live in the present rather than one you distance yourself from through a screen.
When you look at the sheer number of fans who pay impressive amounts of money to see their favourite artist in person and don’t actually watch them but the image of them via their phones, it can be deeply depressing.
Take Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour - documenting the event for posterity by taking a few pics is fine, but when everyone films throughout and immediately posts the footage online, mostly for social clout on Instagram, as well as bragging rights, you do feel like you’re having a Cruel Summer.
Removing oneself from a live event seems ludicrous, and using your phone throughout a concert can also be incredibly disrespectful to fellow concert-goers – the ones who actually want to watch the show and feel something in the moment. It’s a lot like the haze of light that pierces dark cinemas during a film. How can you be connecting – at best immersed - with an artist and their work if you’re on your phone?
Then there are those who film the entire performances or live stream the gig. This should be illegal, surely. While sharing is caring, there’s nothing quite as infuriating as those concert-goers who are so obsessed with an online presence that they’ve completely cancelled their actual real life.
That being said, Albarn does have a point when he says that the prohibition is an overstep, and paying fans deserve the right to capture a souvenir and immortalizing a moment with a few pics here and there.
ADVERTISEMENTThe way to do this should always be without a flash, and while remaining mindful of others by not being intrusive. And certainly not recording the gig. Especially not with an iPad.
Yes, those idiots exist, and no. Just no. The only thing you’re doing if you’re filming a whole gig or extended segments on an iPad is disproving Darwinism and highlighting that Jean-Paul Satre was right: “Hell is other people.”
One band has got it right: Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
At a 2013 concert, the band posted a flyer, saying: "Please do not watch the show through a screen on your smart device/camera. Put that shit away as a courtesy to the person behind you and to Nick, Karen, and Brian. Much love and many thanks!"
ADVERTISEMENTThen, during the show, lead singer Karen O repeated the request but gave audience members a chance to take pictures and get it out of their system. After that, however, fans had to "put those motherfuckers away."
Perfect.
Take some pics – preferably with your screen brightness lowered - during the first few songs, and then be present. And if you must capture a particularly meaningful moment later on in the gig, be discreet about it and don’t block the view from some other fan.
Trite as this may sound, it’s great to capture moments, but it’s far greater to live in the moment. And concert etiquette isn’t hard.
ADVERTISEMENTSo, no – phones shouldn’t have to be banned at gigs, and pouches do feel a tad excessive. However, a “Don’t be a moron about it” policy should be top priority at communal experiences like live shows.
Karen O and her words should be gospel – take a few snaps, then “put those motherfuckers away.”
