It has been a while since I have had to go five hours without my phone. Maybe that says something about me, maybe it is problematic, maybe I am just part of a generation that is so chronically on-the-grid that it is normal. However, recently I did have to go five-ish hours without my phone—when I attended Phoebe Bridger’s concert, The Lost Tour. And I will be the first to tell you (or maybe not the first, if you have been getting videos on your “for you” page about the tour) that it was one of the most beautiful experiences I have had.
Everything about the concert was perfect, even if everything had gone wrong that day. I had woken up a bit sick, there was a nor’easter that was supposed to be bad enough that Mamdani had issued a state of emergency, I had to buy a whole new outfit because my original one could not get wet—a new outfit that had gotten me called a ‘whore’ by a man on the streets of Brooklyn. But none of it mattered. I was seventeen, with my best friend, in New York City, about to see my first concert ever.
We got to Barclays Center in Brooklyn, an hour and a half before the doors opened, early enough to get pictures without people in them, early enough to get in the merch lines fairly quickly. Immediately after the doors opened, my phone was locked in a Yondr pouch. And it was not just phones. It was any type of technology. Digital cameras, smart watches, headphones—if it could be plugged into a charger, it was getting locked away.
Did it feel a little strange reaching for my phone and not being able to access it? Of course. But, it was what made the whole concert experience as special as it was. As I mentioned, this was my first concert, so I do not have much to compare it to. However, from all the videos I have seen of other tours, absolutely everyone has their phone out at all times, the glow of the screen shining in dark venues. But here, at this concert, when you looked around there was no blue light. There were the incredible lightshows that lit up the audience, the flicker of Zippos that had been snuck past security, the shine of stage lights, but no screens. Not one.
I am glad that this is a trend that seems to be catching on to other artists, the policy of keeping technology out of the picture. Because I did not have my phone out, I was not worrying about Instagram pictures or videos of the songs, I could be fully and entirely in the moment. I may not have any technological documentation of the night, but I can guarantee that it is an experience I will never forget.