The FLY Open Air festival in Scotland completely banned smartphones at its Boiler Room Stage to keep attendees “in the moment.”
The festival took place in Edinburgh over the weekend and organizers tweeted to let fans know phones would be collected. A tweet announcing the policy stated, “NAE PHONES” in true Scottish style.
In an interview with Metro, festival director Tom Ketley said the policy decision was made to keep fans in the moment. He drew comparisons to movie theaters, saying fans don’t film through their phones there. Ketley believes live concerts shouldn’t be any different.
“Dance music is becoming more popular within youth culture, and more and more young people are getting addicted to their phones. It means people are watching the whole show through their screens.”
Ketley says his team felt like there was no other way to handle the phone ban than collecting them. He says putting stickers over people’s cameras isn’t an option because they’ll just take them off.
In the end, attendees had to place their phones in a lockable pouch, a solution now being used by an increasing number of performers. More than 8,000 security pouches were shipped to the festival for the event. Attendees still had access to their phones, but they were locked away in these pouches.
For those who needed access to their phone, unlocking bases were found in the lobby. The security measure was only in use for those acts that took place on the Boiler Room stage. While you would expect some people to be upset by the idea, many attendees expressed relief at the no-phones policy.
This is the first time a festival in the UK has banned phones altogether, but many performers have asked fans for years to simply enjoy the show. The line-up for the FLY Open Air Festival included Kornel Kovacs, Jasper James, Theo Kottis, Eclair Fifi, and Big Miz.