A music expert, philosopher and psychologist explain what is going on when artists restrict what their fans can do at their performances.
LONDON — “If you have 10,000 people at a concert and 8,000 of them are holding a phone, there’s something deeply disconnected,” said Tobias Forge, the frontman of Swedish rock group Ghost.
Forge was explaining why the band’s world tour is mandating a no-phones policy. Fans entering venues for Ghost’s “Skeletour” shows have to place their mobile phone into what is called a Yondr pouch. The bag is then magnetically sealed, with fans having to approach venue staff situated outside of the main auditorium if they wish for it to be unlocked.
The band is not the first when it comes to declaring phones off-limits. Bob Dylan, Jack White and Placebo have all deployed the Yondr bags in a bid to limit distractions at gigs. Comedians have also done something similar to protect their material from being placed online.
Andrew Mall, an associate professor of music at Northeastern University, thinks musicians who deploy the no-phones policy are “misjudging the audience.”
For Mall, the decision ignores the fact that people attend shows for multiple reasons. “We go to concerts and shows for many different reasons,” he says. “One is that we get to enjoy the music. Another is, if it’s a big show at an arena or a stadium, then we’re there to watch a spectacle, to see all the different media, dancers, pyrotechnics and whatever.
“And sometimes the music is secondary to that. If it’s a small club show and we’re going with friends, then maybe it’s just a night out where music again is part of it but we’re also chatting, maybe in the back, maybe in the bar area if we drink.”
Mall points out that he attends shows for research purposes and is taking pictures on his phone of crowd interactions, like mosh pits and stage diving, during the live experience to document the culture. Music industry professionals may be there to network and require access to their phones as a result.
“I know that artists want to believe that they are the center of attention … but they’re not always the main reason why people come to shows,” the music sector expert continues.
The no-phones decision has divided Ghost fans. Some have praised how engrossed the crowd has been without technological distractions. Others have complained it has created long wait times to get into venues.
At Ghost’s show at the Utilita Arena in Birmingham, England, ticket holders took to social media to voice their annoyance that they had lined up for more than 90 minutes to get into the 15,800-capacity venue after doors had opened, with some blaming the no-phones policy.
Ahead of the band’s gig at OVO Hydro Arena in Glasgow, Scotland, the venue warned that those seen “breaking the rules” when it came to the use of mobile phones during Ghost’s performance would be “escorted out.”
The “phone-free experience” likely comes with increased security staff, says Mall — a cost that will either have to be absorbed by artists or passed on to concert-goers. He says the pitfall of the additional rules means that, if fans do not enjoy the experience, they may be reluctant to return. “Both on the artist and the venue side, you risk the goodwill of your brand,” Mall says.
Peter West, an assistant professor in philosophy at Northeastern in London, says he has been to “several gigs in the last couple of years” where somebody in front of him is filming and argues that such actions raise questions about individual freedom versus collective freedom.
West links it back to what the 20th century Russian-British philosopher Isaiah Berlin called negative and positive liberty, with negative liberty being the freedom to act without being interfered with by others, while positive liberty is the desire of someone to choose how they act.
For West, a concert-goer who is constantly using their phone is utilizing their own negative liberty but at the same time infringing on someone else’s positive liberty of wanting to enjoy the show they have paid for unencumbered.
“They have freedom to do what they want — to use their phone in the gig — but they’re infringing upon my positive liberty and the collective freedom of the people around them to enjoy the gig,” the philosopher says.
His reading of the concert phone ban is that artists like Ghost are seemingly making a decision that is designed to protect collective liberty — the ability for the masses to enjoy live music — over the individual liberty of someone being able to use a piece of their property whenever they wish.
“In true philosophical fashion, I don’t think it is obvious which one of those is more important,” says West. “But it seems there is a calculated decision being made by artists or venues that actually collective freedom is more important.”
Forge, Ghost’s face-painted singer who adopts different personas when performing, said he was motivated to put on phone-less shows after experimenting with it for the 2024 film, “Rite Here Rite Now.” The 44-year-old said it was the first time in more than a decade that he had experienced a “fully engaged crowd.”
Bianca Serwinski, a London-based associate professor in psychology, says there is a psychological theory to explain that sentiment. During a performance, she says, mirror neurons can be activated between audience members and those on stage, creating “empathy and emotional contagion, which adds to the experience.”
“Now, if you are using phones, you’re blocking direct eye contact, you’re blocking your body language, you’re disrupting this process,” she explains.
Studies have also shown that even when a phone is facedown on a table not being used, its latent promise of providing something new or novel can still activate the sympathetic nervous system — the part of the brain that works to make humans feel activated or alert — thereby creating a feeling of anxiety. But human reliance on technology means that not having access to our phones can also stimulate negative emotions, Serwinski says.
“Even when it is just in your pocket, you want to reach for it, you want to have it present,” she continues. “But if you don’t have it, however, it creates another anxiety. So now we have this dilemma.
“Do we want to have the phone present, creating some sort of anxiety and curiosity and the need to constantly check, ‘Do I have it, do I have it?’ and to touch your pockets?
“Or do you want to have it locked away so you can enjoy what is present? But actually in that moment, it could make you a bit restless because you want to have your phone with you. So both activate the sympathetic nervous system, which is not good for you ultimately — you’re not enjoying the moment.”