Singer Bob Dylan has decided to ban camera phones from his concerts.
He is said to be sick of looking out, singing, blowing in the wind and seeing 50,000 phones go up rather than people enjoy the music.
Bob Dylan is reportedly annoyed about this, and has told ticket holders for his October tour in the UK that they will have to place their phones into pouches with magnetic locks.
Incidentally, he’s not the first artiste to do this. Alicia Keys used the pouches at her concerts, as did the Lumineers. Madonna had magnetic boxes for phones at her 2002 show at the London Palladium. Other megastars have not gone so far as to ban phones, but have intervened, including Beyonce once telling fans at a show, “Y’all gotta put the camera phones down for one second and actually enjoy this moment.”
Many artists claim smartphone bans are in place to, ‘improve the experience for everyone’, though it is also an effective way to protect their commercial interests.
Stars face significant financial losses if fans film their gigs and upload it onto social media, for free.
