I Lived It: I Went to the Phoebe Bridgers No-Phones Concert Without My Phone (and You Can Too)

They said I couldn’t do it. But I proved them wrong: I went to a concert without taking a single photo on my phone. 

In fairness, this wasn’t really my choice. At the request of Phoebe Bridgers herself, my phone was safely tucked away in a locked pouch throughout her Chicago stop last month.

Earlier this year, when announcing her tour based on her critically acclaimed album “The Lost Weekend,” singer-songwriter Bridgers revealed that all of the stops would be “no phones” shows: requiring (almost) all attendees to secure their devices in a Yondr pouch provided free on entry. 

This isn’t a particularly new idea — for years, phones have been sealed away for events like comedy shows, which may be filmed for broadcast or streaming. 

And while many accepted and even applauded Bridgers’ decision, negative reactions have also popped up, from inaccessibility accusations to kidnapping concerns (and prompting slightly less serious responses like “What if M. Night Shyamalan’s concert-going serial killer shows up and I need to report him?”)

The discussion was even more fiery in 2022, when singer Mitski asked fans to set their phones aside of their own volition at her shows, but this is far too much to get into right now.

At the Chicago stop of Bridgers’ tour I attended with my sister earlier this year, I found that in person, fans were excited to try something new and embrace staying in the moment for their favorite indie singer.

At points, my sister admitted she was embarrassed that she seemed to be antsier without her phone than the teenagers next to us.

• Jump straight to: How to prepare for a phone-free show (and all the minor logistical inconveniences you might not be expecting)

As someone who has lived and survived The Lost Tour, I can report: There are for sure a few things to know about your first phone-free concert, and the maybe-unexpected logistical challenges that parting from your phone, however temporarily, can bring. 

But ultimately, it was probably one of my top five concerts and a genuinely gorgeous experience that I felt fully enveloped in.

So with all of this in mind, I wanted to share my tips for any Bay Area fans going to Bridgers’ upcoming shows at Chase Center on Tuesday, Oct. 27 and Wednesday, Oct. 28.

KQED also has several thorough guides on how to attend concerts and events at Chase Center.

And if you have accessibility and medical concerns around the Yondr pouch, be sure to check with Chase Center ahead of time by reaching out to [email protected].

Concert etiquette has been a hot topic among live music fans, especially post-pandemic.

Many have bemoaned having their view blocked by a crowd of phones recording the event rather than people actually enjoying the event itself.

It’s also part of a much, much larger discussion of our connection with — and possible addictions — our phones and our need to have proof that we did something and had fun.

Bridgers herself said her reasoning for the phone ban is personal. The album is deeply raw and often painful, with some songs exploring the death of her father. 

During the Chicago stop I attended, Bridgers articulated onstage that it would feel “dystopian” to have people record her as she cried and sang, and expressed gratitude to the audience for parting with their devices for the evening. (Bridgers has also previously called out people and fans for taking pictures of her in public, notably at the airport on her way to her father’s funeral.)

Yondr is, in fact, a San Francisco-based company that got its start in Bay Area schools and venues.

It’s a pretty simple product: a gray and green pouch with a sling that you can slip your phone into. The pouch is then locked by the staff. 

You then keep the pouch with you for the entire night and bring it to the staff after the show to be unlocked. Staff members have their own device to unlock it.

All communication and recording devices — not just phones, but also smartwatches, recording, and filming devices — will be secured in a Yondr pouch as you enter the venue.

So if you need to text a parent, friend, boss, partner, etc. to let them know you will be unavailable in the next couple of hours, be sure to do it outside the venue. I ran into a lot of stressed people who told me that they forgot to let their mom know the concert was phone-free.

Luckily, for those stressed-out concert-goers, there are a few phone-use zones in select spots throughout the venue — usually near the entrance. 

Your pouch will be unlocked when entering and, when exiting the phone-use zone, promptly locked again. I got scanned by a staff member with a security metal-detecting wand when leaving, to check I hadn’t hidden another recording device on me.

Once locked, the Yondr pouch is pretty secure — unless you want to whack it against the wall like high schoolers do to get around phone bans — so if your phone or alarm goes off, it will be pretty difficult to shut it off from the outside.

For most phones — like the iPhone — there is a chance that alarms can still sound despite being on silent mode.

So, for safety, it might be best to turn your phone off completely before locking it into the pouch. You might not make any friends if your birth control reminder alarm rings during “Motion Sickness.” 

Many people usually use Apple Pay or a credit card loaded onto their phone when buying things, often leaving physical cards at home.

So I had to make sure to remember to bring my physical credit card — and ID — with me to the show. 

Chase Center is a cashless venue. If you do have cash, you can transfer it onto a card inside the stadium by using their Cash-to-Card kiosk, which can be found on the Main Concourse (Portals 10 and 22) and the Upper Concourse (Portal 55).

Without my phone’s clock, I felt somewhat disoriented, being unable to keep track of the time.

Not knowing the time also caused me some stress when my sister and I were standing in a very long merch line (and later, a long concessions line), and I didn’t want to miss the opener, Alex G.

So while there are probably ways to check the time across Chase Center, it might also be helpful to have a physical watch with you to keep track of the time and make sure you get to your seat by the time Bridgers’ show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Just remember an Apple Watch counts as a device you’ll have to lock in the Yondr pouch.

If you are hoping to link up with friends at the concert — or separate to get merch or food — agree on a spot in Chase Center to find each other again. 

Make sure to note which section or portal the meeting spot is in. Chase Center is shaped like a loop, and things can feel eerily similar as you walk around. 

Chase Center has a large screen outside its venue that will likely have a banner dedicated to The Lost Tour. This will be the best place to take any pictures — because, in fairness, a couple would be nice for posting.

Your Yondr pouch gets unlocked at the end of the night and, at the Chicago show, they didn’t mind if we took pictures next to a screen banner inside the venue. If in doubt, ask! 

As with any concert, there is a lot of downtime: waiting in line, waiting for the opener, waiting for the show proper.

I expressed some nerves about having to do that much waiting without something to distract me — only for my sister to irritably remind me that I could, in fact, talk to her to pass the time. 

Sure, I could do that. But I also noticed that fellow fans were also very down to chat to each other in passing in line and around their seats.

Now, I don’t know if I can attribute that to the lack of phones or Bridgers fans being naturally friendly, but it was exceptionally nice to get to know the people around me who genuinely seemed open to talking with strangers.

Be sure to check out Chase Center’s guidance on what you can and cannot bring, but you should be able to bring things like a small crossword puzzle or Sudoku book. 

In what I think is a beautiful trend, some fans online also brought their sketchbooks to recreate some of the stunning, electric blue sets during The Lost Tour — and seeing their interpretation of one of the most beautiful concerts I have ever seen makes the entire experience feel all the more intimate and magical.