New wave of British heavy metal legends Iron Maiden have been gradually increasing their stance against smartphones being utilized during the band’s live shows in 2025 and beyond. As it turns out, multi-platinum occult rockers Ghost adopting a phone-free experience at their live events this year was a significant factor in influencing Iron Maiden‘s decision.
Ghost somewhat in famously opted to limit smartphone usage in the audience at their shows across their world touring this year. That initiative came about after the band first employed the use of Yondr pouches during the filming of their 2024 live concert film ‘Rite Here Right Now‘. Those pouches effectively seal away the concertgoers phone in select areas of the venue, thus limiting access to them.
Iron Maiden themselves began taking a stronger stance against the usage of phones at their shows earlier in the year. Thus far, the band have adopted an honor system of sorts, issuing public pleas to their fans. In a statement shared this past May, the group’s longtime manager Rod Smallwood offered in part:
“We really want fans to enjoy the shows first hand, rather than on their small screens. The amount of phone use nowadays diminishes enjoyment, particularly for the band who are on stage looking out at rows of phones, but also for other concertgoers. We feel that the passion and involvement of our fans at shows really makes them special, but the phone obsession has now got so out of hand that it has become unnecessarily distracting, especially to the band. I hope fans understand this and will be sensible in severely limiting the use of their phone cameras out of respect for the band and their fellow fans.”
Last week, Maiden announced that they would essentially be following in Ghost‘s footsteps for their own upcoming live concert film shoot, employing Yondr pouches during the June 22nd, 2026 set they have planned at the Paris La Défense Arena in Paris, France. That performance will be filmed for a future release, with Smallwood recently stating of their plans for the show:
“It was really special to see that the vast majority of our fans appreciated and respected our request to severely limit their use of phones at our concerts, ideally just keeping it in their pockets the whole time, especially in those standing areas in front of the stage. There were exceptions in a couple of places sadly but overall our fans’ understanding and cooperation made a colossal difference to the atmosphere of every show and increased the enjoyment enormously for the band and fans alike.
While we encourage our fans to follow this again at all our shows in 2026, in Paris specifically, we will be working with Yondr the company that creates phone free spaces where fans are given a secure locked pouch which allows you to keep your phone on you at all times. They will facilitate this process ultimately for the benefit of you, our wonderful fans and I am sure that, like all of us, you do not want to watch the resulting film, seeing banks of phone screens in the shot. Therefore, to help our film crew, we will make the huge floor at La Défense completely Yondr phone free so we can ensure the show – and of course all of you in the crowd – look as phenomenal as possible on camera!
In the rest of the venue we are requesting that fans once again keep their phones in their pockets and enjoy the show ‘in the moment’, rather than raise their phone in the air trying to film sections and thus inconveniencing those around them. So if a so-called fan near you thinks they are special and filming what they selfishly want please just ask them, very politely of course, to put their phone somewhere the sun doesn’t shine!”
Now, in a newly shared interview with Appetite For Distortion, Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson noted that catching one of Ghost‘s phone-free live experiences this year opened his eyes towards what he saw as positive impacts on the live concert experience. When asked by the aforementioned podcast’s host about how he currently feels about smartphones, Dickinson recalled that Ghost show, offering [transcribed by theprp.com]:
“Look, in so many ways, I wish the camera on [smartphones] had never been invented, but it has been invented. It’s now a kind of… infestation is a way I would describe it. It’s like some terrible disease that people feel the need to look at the world through this stupid little device. It’s like a failure of humanity. You’re surrendering your senses completely to this little fascist in your hand.
Put it down, put it in your pocket, and look around you. Look at the people, look at the joy, look at the band, feel the emotion, feel the music. What a phone does, it cuts all of that off. And so I feel sad. I also feel pissed off. Because as a performer, I want to perform for an audience of people that have some emotional feedback, not a bunch of Android twerps.”
I think some people who are real music fans, I think that they understand, and I think they’re getting better about it. They understand what’s going on. I went to see the Ghost show and it was a no-phone show. So all the phones were in baggies [Yondr pouches.]
Oh my god! The difference is astonishing. The atmosphere was, it’s wow! I mean really, really noticeable. Even the way people behaved with each other, interacted with each other — not looking at the band — just being civil to each other, talking to each other, you know, it was different.”
Iron Maiden and Ghost aren’t alone in their hardening stance. Alternative metal juggernauts Tool have long instituted a no filming policy at their shows, with vocalist Maynard James Keenan once again explaining his position on the matter this past summer. Keenan has also previously cited issues with lights and camera flashes coming from the audience as being distracting and blinding to himself and his bandmates onstage mid-show.
In other news, Iron Maiden have just announced a July 11th show at Knebworth Park in Knebworth, UK. That set will feature opening performances from The Darkness, The HU, Airbourne and The Almighty. Tickets will go on sale this Saturday, September 27th. Smallwood said of it:
“We knew that we had to bring the Run For Your Lives show back to the UK again next summer as there was such a phenomenal demand for tickets but we wanted to do something a bit different to try and top the show at London Stadium!
Well, we think that Knebworth is the solution – we have history there with our headline appearances at Sonisphere some years ago and this time we will be taking over the whole of the grounds ourselves and turning it into as much of a ‘Maiden World’ as we can for all our fans to enjoy!
Our Eddie’s Dive Bars have proved immensely popular on this current tour so our intention is to create our biggest one yet which will also be open on the Friday. There will be a full programme of Maiden-themed entertainment there that night, which we expect to include some live music and DJs along with other attractions and entertainment we are currently working on.
So we hope you will join us as we continue to celebrate five decades of Iron Maiden back in the UK.
It’s going to be one for the history books…in a really historic venue!”
Iron Maiden’s 2026 live plans include the following shows:
05/23 Athens, GRE – Oaka
05/26 Sofia, BUL – Vasil Levski Stadium
05/28 Bucharest, ROM – Arena Nationala
05/30 Bratislava, SLO – Národný Futbalový Štadión
06/02 Hannover, GER – Heinz von Heiden Arena
06/10 Amsterdam, NET – Ziggo Dome
06/17 Milan, ITA – San Siro Stadium
06/22 Paris, FRA – Paris La Défense Arena
06/28 Lyon, FRA – Groupama Stadium
07/07 Lisbon, POR – Estádio da Luz
07/11 Knebworth, UK – Knebworth Park (feat. The Darkness, The HU, Airbourne & The Almighty)
