Jack White has discouraged phone use at his live shows for years. In the past, he’s made a point of going onstage and asking fans to keep their phones in their pockets. Now, for his upcoming US tour, he’s trying a more aggressive approach. Fans will be asked to keep their phones secured in a Yondr-branded pouch that can only be unlocked in certain areas of the venue, NME reports.
A statement released today by White’s team says that concertgoers will be banned from taking photos, audio, or video during the tour. “We think you’ll enjoy looking up from your gadgets for a little while and experience music and our shared love of it IN PERSON,” the statement reads, according to NME.
The Yondr pouch, which looks like a neoprene beeper case, remains locked unless it’s tapped against a proprietary base, usually available in the lobby of a venue. “If you use a device all the time, it’s going to affect your nervous system and your patterns of thought and social interaction. It’s really just an impulse check that’s needed, I think,” Yondr’s founder Graham Dugoni recently told Wired.
Other musicians like Alicia Keys, The Lumineers, and Guns N’ Roses, and comedians like Chris Rock and Dave Chapelle, have already used Yondr pouches at their shows, according to The Guardian.
Jack White’s statement encourages fans to repost photos from the @officialjackwhitelive Instagram account if they want photographic proof of the evening.
It’s not clear if the no-phones rule will be enforced during White’s European tour dates, or only in the US. The tour, for White’s upcoming album Boarding House Reach, kicks off in Detroit on April 19th.