Damon Albarn Disapproves of Bob Dylan’s Phone Pouch Policy

For several years, Bob Dylan has imposed a ban on cell phones at many of his concerts. Damon Albarn of Blur, however, doesn’t see eye to eye with this policy.

“If you start banning things, where does it end? I think you’ve just got to turn up and do your thing,” he remarked during a recent interview with the BBC. “People won’t want to be on their phone if you’re engaging with them correctly.”

Last week, Dylan unveiled an upcoming tour in the U.K. and Europe, stipulating that fans must turn off their phones upon arrival and place them in Yondr pouches. These pouches are locked by staff members and can only be opened in designated areas or when the concert concludes.

Dylan is not the only artist who has adopted Yondr pouches for their shows. Performers like Jack White, Guns N’ Roses, Alicia Keys, and Childish Gambino have also utilized them.

“I don’t have a setlist. I really react to the crowd, just like a stand-up comedian would,” Jack White explained in a 2018 interview with Apple Music. “If I finish a song and it’s ‘tah-dah!’ and it’s crickets, I don’t know what to do. What I don’t like is that you can’t tell if they are genuinely disengaged or if they’re just texting. When you go to a movie theatre, a symphony, church, there are all these moments in life when people put their phones away and engage.”

Dylan’s European tour kicks off on October 4 in Prague, Czech Republic, and will wrap up in mid-November with three shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Source: BBC, Apple Music