Jack White has banned fans using smartphones from his gigs
Jack White has had enough of the panels of light popping up above the crowds heads at concerts as he bans phones from his gigs.
A disease is plaguing live music at the moment, the disease of crappy smartphone recordings and until we start working on a cure it could kill us all. Well maybe that’s being dramatic but if you’ve been at a concert you’ve no doubt had the annoyance of some bozo in front blocking the live music happening in front of you for a crap recording of it – unless you’re the culprit.
Jack White has put his foot down and will no longer be allowed to use at his shows except in certain areas. For his upcoming US tour Jack will ask fans to keep their phones in a Yondr pouch that will only unlock in certain parts of the venue when tapped against their linked base so that they can still be accessed if needed, just not whilst watching the performance.
In a statement White’s team told how taking photos, audio, or video at his concerts will be banned. According to NME, they said: “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.”
Yondr pouches are a good choice of partnership for White and his team, with the company’s goal being to disconnect people from their phones more and experience their surroundings. Yondr founder, Graham Dugoni said: “If you use a device all the time, it’s going to affect your nervous system and your patterns of thought and social interaction. It’s really just an impulse check that’s needed, I think.”
Musicians like Alicia Keys, The Lumineers, and Guns N’ Roses have also used Yondr pouches at their shows to make the concerts more intimate. Jack White and his team encourage fans to share and save official footage of the shows rather than attempting to create their own rubbish quality, intrusive version.
Jack White hasn’t confirmed whether this will affect his European tour dates as well as his US tour.