Phoebe Bridgers is bringing her no-phones policy to European audiences this autumn, extending her 'Lost Tour' across the continent after a series of low-cost, device-free shows in the United States. The singer-songwriter, known for her intimate and emotionally raw performances, will play 14 dates in northern Europe starting in November, with stops in Dublin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, and other cities.
Bridgers joins a growing list of musicians who have banned smartphones from their live shows, including Bob Dylan, Jack White, and the Swedish rock band Ghost. The policy relies on Yondr pouches—soft-sided locking cases that secure phones during performances—a method already used in schools and comedy clubs. At Bridgers' recent pop-up show at Madison Square Garden in New York, 20,000 attendees had their devices locked away before entering, leaving them to experience the performance without filming, streaming, or posting.
The tour's European leg will feature former Black Country, New Road frontman Isaac Wood as a supporting act. Bridgers reportedly performed eight new tracks while seated on a sofa during her New York show, a format that may carry over to European dates. Tickets for the US shows were sold via a lottery for as little as $1 (€0.87), with proceeds supporting people in immigration detention centres—a model that could be replicated in Europe, though details for the European leg have not yet been announced.
Why Phones Are Being Banned
The debate over smartphones at concerts has intensified in recent years. Online forums are filled with complaints about audience members filming entire shows, blocking views, and distracting performers. A recent sold-out Hayley Williams concert in Milan prompted multiple Reddit threads criticising attendees who spent much of the show recording it. One user wrote that 'a solid 1/3 of the concert goers were videoing and photoing the entire concert,' while another described the audience as the worst they had ever seen at a concert.
Artists have responded in different ways. Bob Dylan has used Yondr pouches on tours for years, banning phones across a full UK and European tour in 2024. Jack White has long championed phone-free shows, and Tobias Forge, frontman of Ghost, recently described the band's phone ban as a 'life-changer'. Even Adele, back in 2016, made headlines after singling out a fan recording her rather than watching her performance.
Not everyone is on board. In 2024, Blur frontman Damon Albarn criticised Dylan's phone ban, arguing that artists should focus on engaging audiences rather than restricting them. 'People won't want to be on their phone if you're engaging with them correctly,' he told the BBC.
Bridgers is betting that enough fans want to experience her music in the moment rather than through a screen. The move also aligns with broader European conversations about digital displacement and attention spans. A recent study linked smartphone use to falling birth rates, highlighting how screen time is reshaping social behaviour across the continent. Smartphones and Falling Birth Rates: A New Study Points to Digital Displacement explores these trends in depth.
For European audiences, the phone-free policy may feel like a throwback to an earlier era of live music, but it also raises practical questions. How will fans coordinate meet-ups without phones? What about safety concerns in large venues? Bridgers' team has not yet detailed how these issues will be handled, but the Yondr pouches are designed to be unlocked at designated areas, allowing attendees to use their phones if needed.
The 'Lost Tour' arrives at a time when the live music industry is grappling with the impact of technology on the concert experience. As phones become an increasingly unavoidable part of life, artists like Bridgers are testing whether a digital detox can restore the magic of live performance. Whether this trend will spread across Europe remains to be seen, but for now, fans in Dublin, Brussels, and Stockholm will have to leave their devices at the door.
