Metal Anarchy

As previously reported, Iron Maiden have been asking fans to limit device use on their “Run For Your Lives” tour. Now, during an interview with Appetite For Distortion, frontman Bruce Dickinson further explained the decision, saying he “want[s] to perform for an audience of people that have some emotional feedback, not a bunch of Android twerps.”

Dickinson said the following:

“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.”

Notably, Iron Maiden will use Yondr pouches during their June 22, 2026 show at the Paris La Défense Arena in Paris, France. That concert will be filmed for an upcoming release.

[via The PRP]