Keith Urban Refuses to Ban Cell Phones at Concerts

In the digital age when fans spend as much time at concerts looking at their phones as they do the stage, several artists, including Sheryl Crow, Bruno Mars, Beyoncé and more have been requesting fans to put their phones down during their performance. However, Keith Urban is willing to embrace the trend, even if he doesn’t fully understand it.

“I guess it’s just where we’re at, evolutionary-wise, with technology right now,” Urban told All Access. “Like most new inventions, we don’t have a clue on how to use it at first, and then it’s excessive, and we start to feel enslaved to ‘this thing’ now. I’m doing all of this for my phone; my phone wanted to see the concert, and it’s making me pull it out of my pocket, so he can enjoy it, too, because he has no thumbs.

“At the same time, I also love that a concert can be enjoyed by twice as many people, or infinitely more people,” he continued. “I’ll look out and see tons of screens that have people’s faces on them, because people are Face-Timing, and they’re there. It’s such a 2018 moment to see people’s faces on a screen. You can see them smiling and loving it, and it’s an amazing feeling. Then, other people who are looking down at their phones are actually editing what they just filmed so that they can post it, because they’re having a great time, and they want people to know about it immediately. It’s the same as when you’re at a kick-ass party, texting people to get there right away. That kind of passion is fantastic.”

Although the 51-year-old understands why some artists ban them, Urban doesn’t feel that asking his fans to do that is necessary.

“I could never enforce a ‘no phone’ policy at my show; for me, personally, that doesn’t make any sense in 2018,” Urban explained. “I want people to enjoy the concert however they wanna enjoy it, because if they go home and say, ‘Geez, I spent more time on my damn phone,’ then that’s a good lesson learned, and maybe they’ll amend that.”

Urban is currently on his Graffiti U Tour, which will head to his native Australia in 2019. Find dates at his official website.

Photo Credit: Getty images/RB/Bauer-Griffin