Tool’s Maynard is Once Again Threatening to Eject Fans from Shows for Using Their Phones
Maynard James Keenan does not like it when you film his band’s shows using your cell phone. REALLY does not like it. So much so that he’ll go to extreme measures to make sure you don’t… and if you so dare, you’ll suffer the consequences.
Last year he came under fire while touring with A Perfect Circle for enacting a strict “no cell phones” policy. At one show, 60 concert-goers were ejected for daring to capture a lasting personal memory with the electronic personal memory-capturing device in their pocket.
And now he’s doing the same on Tool’s currently in-progress North American tour (last-minute ticket deals here). The Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, which hosted Tool last night, November 6, in Cleveland, OH, sent a sternly-worded email to all ticket-holders prior to the show informing them that they’d be tossed if they were caught by security brandishing their big, bad, photo-taking weapons:
“We respectfully request that you please watch and listen to the show, not your phone. You will be ejected from the show without the opportunity to return and without a refund if you violate this simple request and elect to take photos during the performance. In the event of a personal emergency, phone use may occur on the concourse away from the performance area.”
At one point during the show — at which “no cameras” signs were posted “at every possible spot,” according to one Redditor — Maynard told the audience they were “up to par,” and instructed security to go easy on the phone policy while fans checked their email. A tongue-in-cheek, self-deprecating jibe, no doubt, from an extremely cheeky individual. At least the man has a sense of humor about himself.
Look, I get it: the abundance of folks hoisting their phones into the air at shows IS extremely annoying, and I can only imagine that it’s even more bizarre and irritating for the performers up on stage. Still, I don’t believe that enforcing a cell phone ban with the threat of ejection is the way to combat that problem. Say a thing or two from the stage, maybe, or just let it go… railing against it reeks of “kids these days” and it’s not a good look.
Tool’s phone-less tour continues through the end of November; get last-minute deals on tickets right here!
Got a cell phone at a Tool show ejection story you’d like to share? Drop us an email at [email protected].
[via Loudwire]
