Let the music take over: How artists are insisting on phone-free concerts

In an environment full of phones, live music as an art form gets lost. The spontaneity that once made concerts special, has been replaced by a series of premeditated stunts, writes Jessica Carl

Digital Fatigue Is Real | Percent of US adults who agreed they often wished to disconnect from digital devices more easily

Artists on tour tend to follow a basic principle: the flashier the concert, the better. And with good reason. As ticket costs skyrocket — reaching an average of $136 in 2024, up 50% from 2019 — fans expect performers to deliver a TikTok-worthy spectacle to justify the eye-watering prices.

The result is a sea of phones, all looking to capture the same viral songs, wardrobe changes and stage designs that dominate social media chatter.

In that environment, live music as an art form gets lost. The spontaneity that once made concerts special — an off-script joke, an impromptu guitar riff, a song reimagined for one night only — has been replaced by a series of premeditated stunts that are engineered to be replayed online. But as technology increasingly shapes how music is created and consumed, live performances offer fans a rare chance to experience something authentic and distinctly human.

A growing number of artists are leaning into that idea, either by stripping down their shows, ditching the gimmicks or, more radically, insisting their audiences unplug to live more in the moment. I recently witnessed one of the boldest experiments yet: a phone-free Phoebe Bridgers concert in New York City.

“Even though there were around 20,000 people there, Madison Square Garden felt intimate. It was just her sitting on a couch singing, and you could hear a pin drop,” 21-year-old Carli Platt said of the sold-out show, which utilized Yondr pouches to store fans’ devices. Bridgers herself remarked on the quietness of the venue, saying she’d never been to a concert like it before in her life. The morning after the show, she announced an ambitious arena tour on her Instagram with one caveat: “no phones.”

The policy is a damning rejection of concert culture. According to concert promoter Live Nation, 68% of Gen Zers feel that social media is integral to live music events. “I am so attached to my phone,” Platt admitted. “At times I felt myself instinctively reaching for it before the show began — and I was so glad that I couldn’t.”

But Bridgers’ minimalist set proved that you don’t need all the bells and whistles to make a live show feel special. It’s a realization more artists are starting to have. Role Model recently revealed to Rolling Stone that he’s ditching his “Sally” gimmick, where he brought superfans and celebrities on stage. Kacey Musgraves gave an intimate performance in Nashville to launch her latest album. The Last Dinner Party and Audrey Hobert routinely ask fans to put down their phones during their most popular songs. Even Sabrina Carpenter — the queen of social media stunts — has considered banning devices at her shows.

As an added bonus, some artists are collaborating with different companies to make tickets more accessible. At Bridgers’ MSG show, she partnered with music streaming platform Tidal, which allowed fans to enter a lottery and pay as little as $1 for a seat, with proceeds going to charity.Similarly, the All-American Rejects embarked a “House Party” tour in 2025, playing intimate shows void of high-tech backdrops and complicated production in places such as bowling alleys and fans’ backyards. Tickets sold for around $10 and included free drinks, thanks to a partnership with Mike’s Hard Lemonade. A year later, they’re still leading a movement to create a shared, live experience that centers on the music itself by prioritizing smaller spaces where they can easily interact with the crowd.

A recent wave of listening parties — events where new music is shared before its released to the public — by artists such as Rosalía, Billie Eilish and Harry Styles accomplishes a similar feat. As Dazed’s Josh Crowe put it in January, these events “offer global reach without sacrificing intimacy” and tap into Gen Z’s “broader desire” for analog experiences. The trend slots in perfectly with the music industry’s embrace of vinyl records, CDs and cassette tapes, sales of which have doubled since 2018.

Physical Music Is Booming | Vinyl, CD and cassette sales have more than doubled in the past eight years | Bloomberg Photo

While many fans welcome the analog shift — at MSG, staff wrote ticket information on pieces of paper and lighters were briefly used in lieu of cellphone flashlights — going phoneless is still somewhat contentious, partly because Bridgers’ arena tour will be significantly pricier than her lottery tickets. With concert costs rising, some fans feel it is their right to digitally preserve a show or FaceTime with friends during concerts. But that argument quickly unravels when you consider all the other expensive experiences — comedy shows, Broadway productions and even workout classes — people regularly put their phones on “Do Not Disturb” to enjoy.

Although Yondr pouches have been around for over a decade, Bridgers is going phone-free at a scale rarely seen before. “There was a greater sense of community than I have ever experienced at a show this big — people were talking to strangers and making jokes,” said Britt Lang, who attended with their wife.

It’s a fitting takeaway, considering the closing words of Bridgers’ Scott Street: “Don’t be a stranger.” If audiences continue to enjoy the present, the most buzzy concerts of 2026 might end up being the ones that rely on actual memory — not a camera roll.

This report is auto generated from the Bloomberg news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.