Brass in Pocket – and keep phones there as well, warns rock icon

Chrissie Hynde recently walked off stage over filming

Pretenders legend Chrissie Hynde is urging music fans to put their phones away when the band perform in Dundee next month.

Hynde was forced to apologise in October when she stormed off stage in Dubai after swearing at fans who were filming the concert on their smartphones.

Speaking in the run-up to the concert at Slessor Gardens, the 66-year-old said it is “extremely distracting”.

She is now asking fans to watch the show with their eyes just like they would have done in the band’s 1980s heyday.

Hynde said: “It is still a problem, and I never like people taking pictures during shows, not for any reason other than, like millions of humans, I don’t really like my picture being taken.

“I find the phone thing extremely intrusive, as does everybody in modern life.

“Everyone complains about it, and yet everyone’s on their phone. We’re all sort of addicted to the use of phones.”

She added: “When you’re on stage and you look out and you see someone on the phone, whether they’re texting, talking to someone, filming, it’s like seeing a big barrier between you and the audience. It’s extremely distracting. I can forget lyrics. It really can throw me off my stride.”

Hynde said there is no solution other than ask people not to use their phones.

She has also blamed pop artists for exacerbating the problem by encouraging fans to take photos.

Hynde admitted that when people stay away from their phones and stop recording everything, the gigs are so much better.

“There’s much more engagement,” she said.

The Pretenders will perform in Dundee on September 9 as part of the Grand Slam 2018 tour alongside Simple Minds and KT Tunstall.

Picture: Getty Images. People using their smartphones to record footage of gigs is a familiar sight.

Picture: PA. Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde says fans using their phones to film concerts is “extremely distracting” for those on stage.