Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has once again shared his frustration with the growing obsession of fans recording concerts on their phones, calling it a sad reflection of modern life. In a recent interview, Dickinson didn’t mince words: “It’s like a failing of humanity. You’re surrendering your senses completely to this little fascist in your hand.”
The singer said he wishes phones had never come with cameras in the first place, admitting: “I wish the camera on those things had never been invented.” He went on to argue that fans who hold up their devices for an entire show are missing the real experience in front of them.
Dickinson praised the approach of Ghost, who have recently enforced phone bans by sealing devices in pouches during shows. He noted how this changes the energy in the crowd: “Suddenly people are talking to each other like human beings, because they can’t film themselves constantly.”
Iron Maiden themselves stopped short of enforcing such a ban but made a strong request during their Run for Your Lives tour that fans put their phones away. Dickinson acknowledged the “practical limitations” of trying to impose such restrictions in massive stadiums or festivals, but he said the request has worked better than expected: “We’ve seen audiences, especially down the front, respecting it. And that makes the atmosphere so much more powerful.”
For Dickinson, it’s about preserving the spirit of live music, where connection and presence mean more than a shaky video on a tiny screen. As he put it bluntly, a concert should be something lived, not archived.
