Tobias Forge has spoken about Ghost’s new “phone-free” show policy, arguing that banning mobile phones during concerts helps create a “better time” for both the band and fans.
As part of Ghost’s 2025 world tour, attendees are now required to lock their phones in Yondr pouches for the duration of the performance. While fans keep their devices, they can’t access them until after the show. It’s a bold move, especially in an era of ever-present social media, but one Forge believes pays off in a big way.
Speaking about the policy in a new interview with Riff X’s Metal XS, the musician admits that it’s “irritating” seeing fans stuck to their phones during live shows.
“ Simply put, over the last — I don’t know — five years, whatever, every year has become more and more and ever-growing distance I felt between the crowd and the band, or the band and myself,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. “I’ll talk about myself. I felt that I have a problem with watching someone [in the audience holding up a phone in front of their face].”
“It’s irritating. And maybe I’m old school, maybe I’m old-fashioned. I just feel that we’re having an intimate moment, and it disturbs me that you’re filming while we’re doing this together. I’m doing something for you to respond to me. And when we did the shows in LA [at the Kia Forum, where Rite Here Rite Now was filmed], I, together with everyone on stage, was amazed how great it felt and how we wished that it was like this every night, because it made us better. It felt like they were having a better time. And I just felt that I have a hard time not having experienced this.”
Forge explains that the positive vibe of those phone-free LA shows directly influenced the decision to expand the policy across Ghost’s current tour.
“I cannot neglect that I just had an experience saying that this is so much better. And then we did a little bit of obligatory rounds, when we sort of speak to people: ‘How did you feel? What was your impression?’ And the overall result that came back was that it was an amazing experience. A lot of people were saying what people are now talking about: how will it feel?”
Likening the situation to quitting smoking, Forge says, “Beforehand, you go into it thinking that it might be uncomfortable. ‘What am I gonna do with my hands?’ I stopped smoking once. I smoked for 17 years. I couldn’t even fathom the idea of going out drinking a beer [and not having a smoke]… I couldn’t fathom where to put my hands if I’m gonna drink a beer. That worked really good. I stopped smoking in 2012. No problem.”
“Long story, long segue to that is that people were afraid, people were worried about the concept of not being able to film or being able to access the world. As soon as they’d done it, they felt so much better, and that is what I want everyone to feel. For two hours, you feel relieved of the chains that is the ether, whatever it is.”
“Then you can call, then you can take photos, and then you can do all those things. By all means, tell everyone how awful it was. But I felt that I wanted to do it this way, because it made me, and it made the band, and it made all the people that I spoke to, at least from the LA shows, feel so much better. And that is the collective joy that I want people to associate Ghost with.”
That said, the rollout hasn’t been without hiccups. At Ghost’s 20 April show at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena, fans reported waiting up to an hour and a half to get through the door due to delays likely related to the new policy.
“Been queuing for Ghost for 1.5 hours and still not in,” one fan wrote on X. “Ropes at 6:30 and band at 8? Who’s idea was that? It’s almost like Utilita Birmingham forgot there’s 16,000 people to seat. Absolute shit show.”
The post “For two hours, you feel relieved of the chains that is the ether”: Tobias Forge says Ghost banned phones at their shows so everyone could have a “better time” appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.