Phoebe Bridgers has rekindled the 'phone-free gigs' debate again

Indie folk darling Phoebe Bridgers has announced a 2026 tour, and told fans that "phones, cameras, or any devices with recording and filming capabilities are prohibited" — a ruling that has kicked up quite the discourse on social media.

When you turn up at one of these gigs, you'll have to put your devices into a Yondr pouch, which stays locked until the gig is over, or until you decide to leave (it looks as though medical exemptions are allowed, though this may vary by venue).

Depending on who you listen to, the move is classist, dangerous, awesome, or just quite funny, and there are a lot of opinions being shared out there (and some rather humorous responses to those opinions).

While there are some valid questions being asked about safety and emergency phone access, this is something I'm actually quite encouraged to see — and I'll explain why.

The case for no phones

Phoebe Bridgers is far from the first artist to set up a no-phones show of course (here's one earlier example), but it's not the norm. As someone who's been to plenty of gigs down the years, I'm beginning to think that maybe it should be.

I actually like to take a photo or two at a live show, just to record the moment: who I was seeing, what the venue was like, when it happened. But I try to limit myself to just a handful of photos per show, and there are plenty of gig goers who aren't so disciplined.

While I'd miss being able to do that at a phone-free event, it may well be a sacrifice worth making for a better experience overall.

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Especially in larger venues, and especially during the more famous songs, the view of the stage can soon get blocked out by a sea of bright phone screens, all trying to capture the moment. At one gig I went to, someone in front of me must have videoed at least three quarters of the songs: not only was he seeing the gig through a phone screen, so was I.

Let's be honest, most of these photos and videos aren't being snapped and recorded to look back on later — they're for sharing to social media, for getting clicks, likes, reposts, or whatever it is. You end up with at least half the crowd not living in the moment.

You’d think you’d hear from people who have been to no-phones concerts explaining that it’s fine and makes the show better. Unfortunately, every single one of them died of medical complications mid-show or was kidnappedJune 7, 2026

And it seems I'm not alone in preferring to see phones banned at gigs. When we previously polled TechRadar readers, we got almost 1,500 votes: 56% of you would be happy with phone-free gigs, 27% of you thought phones should be allowed but used less, and 10% were open to a ban if some kind of "discrete tech" could still be used to capture photos and videos instead.

Only 7% of you voted 'no chance' to no phones, so that you could still film and take photos, giving you something to remember the gig by — even if your memories would be likely to feature lots of other people with their phones out, as well as the artist on stage.

Before they were famous

I've actually got a bit of a personal connection with Phoebe Bridgers, as I first saw her in 2018 playing at the Leaf bar in Liverpool, not long after her first album came out. I didn't do a headcount at the time, but there can't have been more than 150 people there.

It had everything that makes small gigs so great: a good view of whoever is playing, minimal hassle from the crowd, easy access to the bar, and very few people using their phones too much (I got my standard two or three snaps in, as always).

Fast forward to 2023 and I saw Phoebe Bridgers again, in Halifax, as part of her Boygenius 'supergroup' with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus. I was much further away from the stage, I got much more annoyed by the people around me, and there were a lot more phones on show a lot more of the time.

You may or may not have any idea who Phoebe Bridgers is, but in the year 2026 she's got two nights booked at the 20,000-capacity O2 Arena in London for this tour, which gives you some idea of how far she's come (my level of fame has remained about the same).

I'd bet that these gigs are going to be more enjoyable for the majority without any phones out recording, even if it means no permanent record of the night for punters. It's not just the taking photos and videos either — it's the checking for messages, the scrolling social media, and so on.

I'm old enough to remember going to gigs before smartphones arrived, and we all survived, more or less. I don't have anything to remember those shows by except my actual memories (which can get a little fuzzy over time), but I know I was there. Maybe that's something we need to get back to.

As for the latest Phoebe Bridgers tour, I think I'll give it a miss, irrespective of the phones policy. I'm not a huge fan of gigs above a certain size: the high prices, the crush of crowds, the artist you've come to see no more than a dot in the distance. Maybe I'll find a small live show to go to instead...

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.