Yes To Screens: Billie Eilish Shares Support For Phones At Concerts

Billie Eilish

Phones at concerts have become a testy subject for artists and their fans.

While the argument usually centres on banning them, Billie Eilish holds the opposite view. She’s described young people’s filming and photographing at shows as “an important part of the culture” in a new interview with NME while promoting her new concert film.

“My generation and the generations below, we love to film stuff,” Eilish admitted. “All I do is film stuff and take pictures of everything all the time.”

She continued, “I guess some people do it for clout or whatever, but who cares? It’s like you want to share what you experience.

“And for me, I mean, when I would go to concerts or festivals, I would film every single minute of it, and you know what I would do? I would watch every single video that I took over and over and over and over until I had this audio of the crowd memorised.”

Eilish outlined the positives of social media and phone use but also spotlighted “huge cons”. She explained, “It’s an important part of the culture that we are all on our goddamn phones, and it keeps us connected, you know? It does.

“It’s like yes, there are huge cons and social media is dark, but we get to share through the internet — and I wouldn’t have a career without the internet. I wouldn’t have fans. I wouldn’t have the connection that I do without the internet to them.”

You can watch the interview below.

It’s difficult to argue against Eilish’s points. However, in a week when Bring Me The Horizon vocalist Oli Sykes was struck by a punter’s mobile phone, hitting him in the head and leading to a concussion, phones at concerts will remain divisive.

Then there’s the issue of dead crowds at festivals like Coachella, with attendees constantly on their phones. Speaking of Coachella, this year’s headliner, Sabrina Carpenter, previously said that she’s in support of banning phones at concerts, but admitted that implementing the idea at her shows would “piss off” her fans.

Jack White, Tool, Placebo, Silk Sonic, Bob Dylan, and Australia’s own Ian Moss have all argued for—and implemented—no phone policies at their concerts. Posters advertising Phoebe Bridgers’ recent return to the stage also stated that no phones or filming were allowed, and Yondr pouches would be provided to punters to put devices away.