In a new interview with Audacy, GHOST mastermind Tobias Forge addressed the band’s announcement last fall that GHOST’s 2025 world tour would be “a phone-free experience”, with guests maintaining possession of their phones at all times, secured in Yondr pouches. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “It’s an experiment. And to be perfectly honest, my 16-year-old daughter was very, very, very, very skeptical of this idea. And then she was, like, ‘No one’s gonna buy a ticket.’ And I was, like, ‘I don’t know. I have no idea what people [will do].’ I just know one thing, and that is that over the years it’s gone absolutely insane. If you have 10,000 people at a concert and 8,000 of them are holding a phone, there’s something deeply disconnected. And, obviously, this implies that I had this conversation with my daughter, but we talk about a lot of things and we speak openly about things. But I was saying, like, ‘That’s like having an intimate moment with someone and that person would just take out the phone like that.’ ‘Oh, hold on. I’m just gonna take a photo.’ I know some people do that.”If I’m just speaking for myself — I know a lot of artists don’t care and I know that there are plenty of upsides, especially commercially because you want people that… The whole thing in the business is, basically, ‘Yeah, we want people to film because we want people to see the show, and that will sell more tickets.’ Fine. I understand that there’s a promotional tool with social media. I’m not gonna neglect that. Part of our success is obviously from social media… We started on MySpace. That was the root cause for our success at the time. I don’t know if we would ever become anything if it weren’t for MySpace. And, obviously, our TikTok has played a huge part.”I’m not saying that all social media is bad,” he clarified. “I’m just saying that when it comes to the actual live show, my calling, my reason for being there is the connection between myself and everybody that I brought with me that are working in tandem to give you an experience, that experience is completely decocked if everybody’s just filming. Am I wrong? Am I right? I don’t know. That’s how I, and we, felt.”Forge went on to reference the fact that GHOST’s feature film debut “Rite Here Rite Now” was filmed over two nights in September 2023 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The two concerts were device-free experiences; use of phones and smart watches was not permitted in the performance space. Upon arrival at the venue, devices were secured in individual Yondr pouches that were opened at the end of the event.Tobias said: “This is where we put some practice into the theory. Some of the best shows we’ve ever done in modern time was — I mean, as far as how it felt for us, what the vibe was — was when we played in L.A., when we recorded ‘Rite Here Rite Now’. We were all taken by the fact that people were there. The crowd was there. We have never seen people like that. That was, like, 10 years ago when you saw people engaging. And I get goosebumps when I think about that. And I was, like, ‘Fuck, I wanna do that every night. I want everyone to feel like this,’ because I know — and this is the conversation I had with my daughter. It’s, like, ‘I understand that you in theory think that this is like a downside, like a bad thing.’ I want people to experience this. It’s just two hours of your life. Come on. If you hate it, okay. We all felt so good when we were in L.A., and I know a lot of people said the same thing. It was a great feeling. Fans were saying afterwards, like, ‘I was allowed to just sing along and just act… I could do whatever I want. I don’t have to worry about someone filming me or…’ I mean, I’m not gonna place all the words in everybody’s mouths here, but it’s a great feeling, and I wanna recreate that.”Forge previously discussed GHOST’s phone “ban” earlier this month in an interview with Planet Rock. He said at the time: “I really wanna underline that the ban has nothing to do with, let’s say, copyright control. 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.”Tobias continued: “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.”The 44-year-old Forge added: “I don’t wanna turn this into an ageist thing where I’m gonna tell 14-year-olds everything was better back then. 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.”Through the use of technology like Yondr, fans are able to place their phones in a pouch that unlocks only after they leave the no-cell-phone zone. The pouch can also be unlocked at specific cell phone stations inside the venue.Phone-free concerts are touted as a way to cut down on illegal filming and non-stop selfies that can take away from the performance.Yondr founder Graham Dugoni said his company’s pouches were created for “phone-free spaces” where “creativity and productivity could flourish in the absence of technology.”Phones, Apple watches and other communication devices are placed in the pouch and sealed using a magnetized lock, which can be opened with an unlocking base.Musicians like Jack White, Alicia Keys, and comedians Dave Chappelle and Jerrod Carmichael have used Yondr pouches at their shows to encourage people to live in the moment.A number of other musicians have come out in recent years to say that mobile technology is ruining the concert experience, including SLIPKNOT and STONE SOUR singer Corey Taylor. He told “Loudwire Nights” that “it’s fine” if people want to take pictures of his bands’ shows, but not so much if they are videotaping entire performances. “It’s one thing to film it, it’s another thing to just be staring at your screen while you’re filming it,” he said. “It’s right there. Are you so terrified of real life that you can’t do anything unless it’s on that little four-by-four screen? Ugggh. It’s very weird.”Former SKID ROW singer Sebastian Bach in 2015 urged fans to keep their cell phones at the bottom of their pockets and just watch his performances. “Be in the moment,” he said. “You’re distracted and it’s distracting to the performer as well. Like, put your fuckin’ cell phone away, dammit! You’re never even going to watch that footage.”The overuse of cellphones to capture grainy, blurry photos and videos at concerts has for years vexed and enraged artists like Bach, who lamented the fact that every one of his performances could be recorded and shared on YouTube almost immediately.”If I go to a wedding and sing a song, it’s on Blabbermouth the next day and everybody analyzes it,” said Bach. “It’s a really backwards way to watch a band. It’s a drag sometimes when I go up there and the first thing I see is everybody getting their phones out and holding them toward my face. It makes you feel intimidated.”Back in 2012, Bruce Dickinson chastised a fan for texting during an IRON MAIDEN concert, calling him a “wanker.”When Axl Rose reunited with his former GUNS N’ ROSES bandmates Duff McKagan and Slash for the first time in 23 years at the Troubadour in Los Angeles in April 2016, the concert was phone-free.”God, it was wonderful,” McKagan told The New York Times. “It was the old-school feeling, where people were dancing and getting down. It was really cool.”GHOST will release its new album, “Skeletá”, on April 25 via Loma Vista Recordings.The European leg of GHOST’s 2025 world tour will kick off on April 15 in Manchester, United Kingdom and conclude on May 24 in Oslo, Norway. The North American leg of GHOST’s 2025 tour will launch on July 9 in Baltimore, Maryland and wrap up on August 16 in Houston, Texas.The physical home video of “Rite Here Rite Now” was made available on December 6, 2024.[embedded content]