No Phones Allowed at Jack White Show in Portland, Maine

Jack White Concert in Portland, Maine

I recently had the rapture of going to a Jack White concert here in Maine. On Tuesday, August 23, Jack White played at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland and put on one hell of a show. We walked in with seat tickets but got so excited to be there that we upgraded to general admission and hit the floor.

It was a spectacular show, from the multi-instrumentalist genius Jack White himself to the lighting and visuals, and production of the entire show.

I would love to share videos and photos with you but we actually weren’t allowed to use our phones.

No Phones Allowed in Concert

Have you ever been to a show that banned the use of phones? This was my very first time. I actually didn’t even know that was a thing until now.

We walked into the Arena, scanned our tickets at the door with our cellphones, then got our ticket information written down on a post-it note to use as proof of seats or general admission. We were handed a thick bag shaped like a big cellphone pocket and placed our phones inside, they closed them up, and they were locked in.

The phone bags were pretty big but I was able to put mine in the back pocket of my jeans and let it stick out. I didn’t really mind it but I would prefer if it had a lanyard or some way to carry it around without having to hold onto it.

How it Went

I thought it was a really cool idea and I would definitely do it again. The only minor difficulty was splitting up with friends and not being able to text them but we established meeting points and where we would be. It would have been nice to take a photo or video of the show to share with others but that’s never actually necessary.

It was nice seeing everyone absorb the moment, focus on the show and one another, and really just take in the performance Jack White graciously gave us. Everyone was paying attention, appreciating the moment, and focusing on and basking in what we all went there for.

Unlocking The Phones

I expected that us having to get our phones unlocked would create a traffic jam trying to leave the venue after the show but it actually went very smoothly. We all just piled out and the vendor had plenty of people on duty to unlock our phones with a simple and quick gadget.

It was well executed and well worth it.