TOBIAS FORGE Explains GHOST’s Decision To ‘Ban’ Phones On Their 2025 Tour

In a new Planet Rock interview, GHOST‘s Tobias Forge elaborated on the band’s decision to implement a phone-free policy for their 2025 world tour, using Yondr pouches to secure audience members’ devices.

“I really wanna underline that the ban has nothing to do with, let’s say, copyright control,” Tobias said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It’s not that we wanna sit on all the material and we don’t want anybody to monetize [GHOST videos]; it has nothing to do with that.”

Speaking about Rite Here Rite Now, GHOST‘s new film, which was captured during two performances at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles in September 2023, Forge went on to say: “The Rite Here Rite Now, the film, the essence of messaging in that film was exactly that, but also I, but us collectively, working, making that film… We filmed two shows in L.A. in front of audiences where they had to put their phones into pockets. You don’t give it away. You have your phone; you don’t have to worry about that. If you need to call, you can go out. If you need to take a photo, you can take a photo of yourself out in the lobby; that’s fine. But what ended up happening was that we had such an engaged crowd that seemed joyous in a way that… I had to go back years and in time since I last saw a fully engaged crowd where everybody’s actually watching [the show]. They don’t have to watch me, but they’re watching the band.

“I don’t wanna turn this into an ageist thing where I’m gonna tell 14-year-olds everything was better back then,” he continued. “But I swear that the experience of shows and the making of memories, the making of magic, was much more powerful. Some of the best shows I’ve ever been to, I have maybe not even seen a picture from that because they all live here [in my head]. They live in my core. That’s the memory I have of that. And that is an experience I wish for… Obviously, the part of our crowd that are older and more aware, maybe this becomes a little bit nostalgic then. But I really believe that the younger portion of our crowd will, as they did in L.A., come out saying, like, ‘That was not only a great concert; that was also an overwhelming experience.’ Because I do believe that you will feel that.”

Using Yondr pouches, fans can easily store their phones, which will stay locked until they leave the phone-restricted zone or visit designated unlocking stations inside the venue.