Last Tuesday Bob Dylan announced a surprise tour of Spain as part of his new ‘Rough and rowdy ways’ tour, with which he will play the songs from his latest album live. 12 concerts whose tickets went on sale on Wednesday, selling out in hours for the two events in Madrid on July 7 and 8, which will take place within Las Noches del Botánico; and that of Granada, which will take place on the 13th of the same month. In total, more than 15,000 seats sold in a few hours and still the possibility of attending the rest of the concerts that will be in Seville (June 10 and 11), Alicante (June 15), Huesca (June 17), San Sebastián ( June 19 and 20), Logroño (June 21) and Barcelona (June 23 and 24).
Bob Dylan does not exist but contains multitudes
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With the announcement of the tour also came that they would be ‘Phone Free Shows’, that is, events where mobile phones are prohibited. Not only record the performance, but the attendees will not even be able to look at the time or answer a WhatsApp. It will not be a simple request, but an obligation, and for this the singer has already hired a company to make sure that it will be like that.
It has not been the first, that honor belongs to Alicia Keys, who since 2016 prevents her fans from using the phone during her performances. The rise of these events has led to companies that are dedicated to it. The one chosen by almost all the music stars, and by Bob Dylan, has been Yondr. The method used by the company is simple. At the entrance to the concert, each attendee is asked to deposit their mobile phone in a neoprene case that has a microchip incorporated.
The case closes and is magnetically sealed so that even if the owner wants to open it during the performance, they cannot. Only by means of a machine that demagnetizes it on departure will you be able to open the envelope and recover your device. A method similar to that used by clothing stores or alcoholic bottles in supermarkets.
From the Las noches del botanico website, the procedure is explained and it is also clarified that if someone has an emergency, they can go to a “specific and signposted area, intended for the use of the telephone.” There they will open its case for you to use outside the concert area. They also answer the question why these methods are used and why it is required: “Having created this phone-free experience on recent tours, we believe it creates better moments for all attendees. Our eyes open a little wider and our senses sharpen slightly when we lose the technological crutch we’ve grown accustomed to.” They also clarify that there will be “medical exemptions for those who depend on their phone for treatment.”
Although music is one of the sectors where Yondr’s proposal has established itself faster thanks to its acceptance by artists like Childish Gambino or The Lumineers; The company announces its use in other areas such as education, where the magnetized neoprene case would prevent students from using the phone in class. Also in company meetings or in trials, where sensitive information can be given if it is recorded with a mobile phone.