Ian Moss bans phone photos and videos at One Guitar One Night Only tour

In banning fans’ photography and filming on his upcoming tour, the Cold Chisel guitarist and co-vocalist has drawn a technological line in the sand that hearkens back to yesteryear.

Australian singer, songwriter and guitarist Ian Moss, performing with Cold Chisel last year. Picture: Robert Hambling

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Australian rock ’n’ roll singer, songwriter and guitarist Ian Moss has taken the uncommon step of banning photography and video recording at shows on his upcoming tour.

“To ensure the best possible experience for everyone – both the audience and the artists – photography and video recording will not be permitted during the performance,” Moss’s wrote team on social media on Tuesday.

“In the past, we’ve taken a relaxed approach, but following feedback about disruptions, we’ve changed our policy. Venue staff have been briefed and will help us enforce this policy. There will be no exceptions.”

“We kindly ask you to respect the performers, fellow concertgoers, and the atmosphere by switching off phones and other devices for the duration of the show. Be present and enjoy the performance with your eyes.”

The Cold Chisel guitarist and co-vocalist – whose solo hits include Telephone Booth and Tucker’s Daughter – has drawn a technological line in the sand that hearkens back to yesteryear, where the only phones extant were landlines and gig-goers were thus more likely to be attentive in the room, rather than watching a concert via a screen.

An image shared to Ian Moss’s social media accounts on Tuesday alerting people to the recording ban. Picture: Facebook

In announcing this policy just days ahead of his 10-date theatre tour – dubbed One Guitar One Night Only, which will begin in Brisbane on Thursday and conclude in Melbourne on June 1 – Moss is following major US acts such as rock musician Jack White and alternative metal band Tool, who have taken significant steps in attempting to prohibit phone use in recent years.

At his Brisbane show in December, White’s arrival was prefaced by a stagehand who stood at a microphone and said, “I have one simple rule-slash-request. I ask for you all to be completely present. So that means doing what you are doing now, which is no phones.” Most complied.

Tool, on its 2020 Australian tour, took a much more hard line approach: taped to the backs of seats all around Brisbane Entertainment Centre were sheets of paper noting, in a large font: “No pictures or recordings allowed from cell phones. Thank you.”

During Tool’s show, at the first hint of a phone screen emerging from the darkness, eagle-eyed security staff flashed bright lights at the offender, and anyone stupid enough to try it a second time was ejected from the concert.

Tool singer Maynard James Keenan later told security to stand down and invited fans to get out their phones for the final song, Stinkfist. Thousands accepted that request, too.

Through his management, Moss, 70, declined to comment further on Tuesday.

His decision to ask ticketholders to ignore their phones, however, may prompt a wider discussion on concert etiquette.

Plenty of regular gig-goers are fond of taking photos or filming a short clip of a favourite song in order to solidify memories of a great night out, often to post to social media, share with absent friends or else to enjoy reviewing at a later date.

This behaviour tips into socially unacceptable when punters opt to film entire songs – even entire performances – while pointing a brightly lit rectangle toward the stage. Inside a darkened theatre – particularly for Moss, who’s back performing alongside his trio after finishing up another successful rock ’n’ roll tour with Cold Chisel late last year – it’s every bit as distracting as someone playing with their phone during a cinema screening.

There’s a generation gap at play in this discussion: at shows by artists such as Billie Eilish and Gracie Abrams – the US pop singer-songwriter who’s currently on a national arena tour – thousands of phones are being held aloft by young fans at any given moment, which would make any attempt at enforcing a device ban all but impossible.

But when such requests to “enjoy the performance with your eyes” comes from the performer themselves ahead of the lights going down, the audience bearing witness to Moss’s guitar heroics will be hoping the query is received in good faith, and respected by all in attendance.