IRON MAIDEN will turn their June 22 concert at La Défense Arena in Paris into a phone-free event, locking away fans' devices in the standing area as the British heavy metal legends film the show for their forthcoming "Run For Your Lives" tour concert film.
For the special gig, MAIDEN are deploying Yondr pouches — the lockable cases that have become the live-music industry's standard tool for phone-free shows — across the standing/general-admission floor. "Tomorrow's show at La Défense Arena will use Yondr pouches to make the standing/General Admission floor entirely phone-free while we record the 'Run For Your Lives' Tour film," the band wrote on social media. "This will enable us to create the optimal viewing experience for our fans on release, and a unique viewing experience for our standing fans in Paris."
The band stressed that ticket-holders' devices would be locked in a pouch on arrival and unlocked on the way out, that the pouch stays with the fan throughout, and that emergency phone-access areas would be available. Crucially, MAIDEN noted the policy applies only to this single filmed show: "No other show will use Yondr pouches. This was declared when the tickets went on sale last year."
The move reflects a long-running crusade by frontman Bruce Dickinson against the sea of screens at modern concerts. "It's now a kind of infestation," he said in a 2025 interview, describing the compulsion to film shows as "some terrible disease." He added: "You're surrendering your senses completely to this little fascist in your hand. Put it in your pocket and look around you. Look at the people, look at the joy, look at the band."
Dickinson has pointed to GHOST, who enacted a full phone ban on their "Skeletour," as proof of the difference it makes. "Oh my God — the difference. It was astonishing. The atmosphere," he said. Acts such as TOOL have adopted similar measures.
Throughout the "Run For Your Lives" world tour, MAIDEN and manager Rod Smallwood have repeatedly urged fans to experience the shows "in the moment" rather than through "their small screens" — while stopping short of a blanket ban for most dates. The Paris film captures one of the tour's marquee nights with the cameras, and the crowd, fully present.