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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 The spontaneity that once made concerts special, has been replaced by a series of premeditated stunts, writes Jessica Carl

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once made concerts special — an off-script joke, an impromptu guitar riff, a song reimagined for one night only — has been replaced by a series of premeditated stunts that are engineered to be replayed online.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........

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