Bob Dylan wants you to know how it feels to be without a phone

How does it feel to be without a phone, like a copmplete unknown, like a rolling stone? Go to Bob Dylan's concert at Forest National this Saturday, and you'll find out.

Would Bob Dylan have a smartphone? Would he send messages via Snapchat? Which WhatsApp groups would he hang around in? Would he do doomscrolling? What filters would he use for his Instagram selfies? Who does he app when he has missed his connection and will not be able to get back for dinner? Questions we have been asking ourselves since we learned that The Bobster is banning phones at his concerts.

This aversion does not come out of the blue. Whenever you tried to take a sneaky snapshot of his exploits on stage, let alone upload a video to YouTube during previous concerts, you would risk eternal exile by the princes who kept the view. During a show in Vienna in 2019, Dylan interrupted “Blowin’ in the Wind” after only one verse because some miscreant had dared to take a photo. “Take pictures or don’t take pictures,” he replied. “We can either play or we can pose. Okay?”

Ever since the pandemic unrelentingly put his perennial Never Ending Tour into aeroplane mode, Dylan’s dislike of phones has only increased. Now that he is finally back on the mend with his latest album Rough and Rowdy Ways, the damned thing is completely banned.

Those who suspect Dylan of wanting to keep less than great shows off socials are grossly mistaken. Yes, there was a period when he no longer came close to a guitar on stage, only glanced sideways at his audience from under his broad-brimmed hat and an unintelligible growl bubbled up from his throat. But he has long since gotten over that crisis, the bard has been reborn for some time now. More so, at 81, Blind Boy Grunt, as he was sometimes called, is back to his sharpest self. With matchless songs like “I Contain Multitudes” and a, well, melodic singing voice not previously heard.

So, whence the aversion to phones? The straight-forward message on the website of venue operator Vorst Nationaal/Forest National simply reads: “The demand for phone-free concerts during previous tours has shown that this makes for a better concert experience. When we leave behind the technological stimuli we today have become accustomed to, our eyes are once more focused on the environment and our senses are more alert.” That’s not a lie: a Dylan show requires all your senses.

Dylan is not the first crusader against the communication device in our pocket. Several artists have already declared their aversion to the sea of glowing screens that tends to loom in front of them. Megabands like Coldplay or solo acts like Dan Deacon have in turn used the smartphone to fuel their creativity. Dylan’s greatest supporter in his fight for his audience’s full attention is Jack White, a great admirer of all things vintage. When he descended on Vorst Nationaal/Forest National in early July, smartphones were not welcome. Or rather, you were allowed to bring it along but they were placed inside a special case and locked that way. That secure, locked phone holder was provided by a company called Yondr and they are doing the same at Dylan’s concert.

Anyone who urgently needs to call their loved ones, check their likes or check Dylan’s lyrics because “Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again” or “Like a Rolling Stone” have disappeared in unravelling keys and chord structures, can still pull the emergency brake. Until then, you know how it feels to be without a phone, like a complete unknown.

Bob Dylan 15/10, 20.00, Vorst Nationaal/Forest National, www.forest-national.be