I’m Gen Z, and Thought a Phone-Free Concert Might Kill Me. After I Lived Through It, I Think Boomers May Be Onto Something

Between ever-increasing ticket prices and a global pandemic that made people less inclined to go out, live music has faced an unending set of challenges.

Bubbling under the surface has also been the question of cell phone use. Does it take away from the experience in some way? Can you even fully enjoy a concert when you’re half checking to see if your angle is good and half trying to singalong? Will you be able to fight the urge to scroll Instagram when the performer isn’t playing your favorite song?

Still the use of phones at concerts has remained a key part of the experience, not only allowing for a show to be shared via social media, but for footage to be kept as personal mementos of the occasion. In some sense, phone use at concerts has been positive. Grainy, nosebleed livestreams of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour used the hype of the singer’s unique “surprise songs” to keep momentum high for what would become the most successful tour of all time.

Her contemporaries, such as Sabrina Carpenter and Charli xcx have also capitalized on the constant spreading of tour videos, as unique gimmicks like the “Juno Positions” and “Apple Girls”, go viral due to phone recordings and in turn, market the tour. At the very least, phone flashlight waving during slow jams is significantly safer and more accessible than lighters. 

However, artists have also expressed frustration with the constant recording of their set. While we’d expect this from older artists such as Jack White and Guns N’ Roses, the new class of stadium headliners is getting fed up too.

The frustration isn’t purely on a financial level — as circulated footage can mean less need for people to actually buy tickets — but artists have expressed how phones can make it difficult to connect with the audience on a human level. Billie Eilish encouraged fans to put their phones away during her performance at Glastonbury 2019 in a video captured by BBC1, saying, “All I ask is that we all try to live in the moment…Look at me in my eyes and put your phone next to your face. Be here because this is the only moment we get to be in this moment.”

To combat incessant phone use, bands such as Ghost are enforcing no-phone policies, where guests leave their phones in pouches locked via magnets, to be returned at the end of the concert. “If you have 10,000 people at a concert and 8,000 of them are holding a phone, there’s something deeply disconnected,” Ghost lead singer Tobias Forge (stage name: Papa Emeritus) said in an interview with Audacy following the announcement the no-phone policy for their Skeletour.

It’s a unique concept in this day and age, but one that led to an eye-opening experience for me.

Despite having the music taste of someone 30 years my senior, my first encounter with a phoneless show was seeing Ghost at Madison Square Garden on July 22. The rock band is at the top of their game, with viral hits like “Mary on a Cross” garnering a fanbase that’s grown exponentially even since I discovered them in 2020. Their insane visual spectacle is the type of show that lends itself to being recorded and passed around the internet. However, that’s not what the band wanted. 

Throughout the concert, and even before, the difference was clear. Fans were much more chatty, because without phones, we had to strike up conversations with people nearby to pass the time before the set. For someone who sometimes struggles to talk to strangers, it was a little intimidating, especially being alone in one of the biggest arenas in the world.

However, I was able to connect with other fans in a way that felt less like first-day-of-class icebreakers and more genuine connection. This, of course, was just my personal experience, but considering this show was the same day as Ozzy Osbourne’s passing, it makes sense that the hard rock audience would want to enjoy the community the late Black Sabbath singer helped form.

During the set, it was nice to truly take in the lights and stage production Ghost had put so much effort into, without an iPhone flashlight pulling me out of the experience. People were more willing to dance, headbang, and sing along than usual.

It felt like the fear of being recorded isn’t just limited to the artists. The energy was palpable, and while a lot of that is due to the rabid nature of Ghost’s fanbase and the hype of seeing a rock band in Maddison Square Garden, not having a phone out during every song made that giant room feel a lot more connected. 

There were, of course, some potential downsides to the lack of phones. Had I not liked the people who struck up a conversation with me, or if no one had tried to make conversation, I would’ve been bored just standing there before the show. While I was waiting to buy merch afterwards, I found myself reading the posters all over the MSG walls and definitely twiddled my thumbs while being very aware I was about to spend $50 on a souvenir T-shirt.

I didn’t really worry about my safety, but my Gen Z, chronically online mind kept going back to my device: Would I still have enough charge to unlock my apartment when I got home? If something urgent did happen while I was busy watching a man dressed as an evil pope smack a cowbell, how would I alert my family? How would they reach me?

Overall, however, I think having no cellphones significantly improved the vibe of the concert. Would I have liked to take some clips of some of the set’s most standout moments? Of course. Songs like “Year Zero” and “Ritual” were elevated to a new level live, and my favorite Ghost song, “He Is,” was majestic as always.

However, I’d trade those clips for the energy and authentic excitement I felt from the first notes. It’s not often that “back in my day” ramblings translate to modern life, but as much as I hate it, Boomers and Gen X may have had a point here.