Sabrina Carpenter contemplating phone ban at her concerts
Pop superstar Sabrina Carpenter has revealed she is considering banning mobile phones from her concerts.
Over recent years, many big names in the music industry have decided to ban phones from their shows, such as Jack White, Bob Dylan, and Ghost. Typically, fans are given a pouch to place their phones in before entering the room, and they can then go to designated areas of the venue to access it if they need to use it.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Carpenter explained how seeing Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak’s Silk Sonic changed her perspective, sharing: “I went to see Silk Sonic in Vegas, and they locked my phone. I’ve never had a better experience at a concert.”
She continued: “I genuinely felt like I was back in the ’70s — wasn’t alive. Genuinely felt like I was there. Everyone’s singing, dancing, looking at each other, and laughing. It really, really just felt so beautiful.”
While phones at concerts are part of the experience for a generation, including Carpenter, she has grown to understand the other perspective, stating, “I’ve grown up in the age of people having iPhones at shows. It unfortunately feels super normal to me. I can’t blame people for wanting to have memories. But depending on how long I want to be touring, and what age I am, girl, take those phones away.”
A spokesperson for Yondr, the company responsible for making the pouches used at concerts to conceal phones, told Far Out earlier this year: “Phones have fundamentally changed live performances. Artists look out on a sea of smartphones instead of faces, and audiences are busy recording rather than truly engaging.”
Blur’s Damon Albarn also weighed into the debate last year, defending the audience’s right to use mobile phones at shows, claiming, “If you start banning things where does it end? I think you’ve just got to turn up and do your thing. People won’t want to be on their phone if you’re engaging with them correctly.'”
While Carpenter is considering making her gigs phone-free in the future, she is not set to introduce the policy for her forthcoming tour later this year.
This summer, Carpenter will play the two biggest headline shows of her career at Hyde Park in London before releasing her highly anticipated new album, Man’s Best Friend, in late August.
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