Edinburgh Festival Goes Phone-Free Under Benedetti
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- Nicola Benedetti, director of Edinburgh International Festival since 2023, declared a 'lights down, phones off' policy across all concerts, framing it as a request from artists and audiences to protect live performance's rarity.
- Edinburgh International Festival said every single concert in last year's Queen's Hall chamber series was disrupted by mobile phones, with many broadcast live — frustrating both in-room attendees and listeners at home.
- Phoebe Bridgers, Bob Dylan, Jack White and Swedish band Ghost already enforce similar no-phone policies, with Bridgers requiring fans to lock devices into special pouches during her shows.
- Rosamund Pike, Jessie Buckley and Lesley Manville have publicly criticised audience phone use during theatre, with Manville flagging someone filming actors during curtain-call bows after a performance had ended.
- Edinburgh International Festival stops well short of a full ban: curtain-call photographs, pre- and post-show use, and interval phone use remain permitted, while drop-in outdoor performances and dementia-friendly concerts are exempt.
- Staff will be on standby to help audience members silence devices or manage scheduled alerts, and Benedetti quoted the late Alfred Brendel — whom this year's Queen's Hall series honours — that 'the audience's contribution is concentration and silence.'
Why it matters: Edinburgh International Festival's policy lands after the festival itself reports 100% of last year's Queen's Hall chamber concerts were disrupted by phones, many broadcast live. Unlike Phoebe Bridgers' pouch-enforced model, Edinburgh leaves carveouts for curtain-call photos, interval scrolling, outdoor shows and dementia-friendly events — a lighter touch that avoids formal enforcement but may let disruptions persist at the margins.
