Sheffield’s rave scene is set for a night free of digital distraction as Tribal Warehouse, the company behind the experience, hosts the city’s first no-phone rave at  FORGE warehouse this Saturday 8th March. 

Nick Spencer, host of the event and DJ on the night, has said the experience promises an environment where attendees can fully engage with the music.

“You didn’t have people holding up their phones trying to do song requests or filming the entire time and not actually dancing,’’ Nick said, reflecting on his past experience at The Warehouse in Leeds which followed a similar policy of no recording.

He has said the introduction of banning video recording at various of his previous live events has meant that “everyone is not on their phones and actually connects with the music.”

A previous no phone rave experience

Nick’s motivation to introduce the no phone policy to this event was supported by an Instagram poll he conducted, along with several over accounts, he gathered over 4,000 responses.

He and the other accounts questioned their followers whether they would prefer the event to have a no-phone policy attached.

The results were extremely one sided, with ninety percent voting to ban the use of phones to record the event.

Leon Griffin,20, a student, shared conflicted feelings towards the policy.“I think a no phone policy is good to some extent in terms of improving the atmosphere,” he said.

He added “I do get so many videos on TikTok and Instagram of music events, which look good and make me want to go next time though, and this wouldn’t happen as often if people were not recording and sharing videos.”

In order to enforce the no recording premise, events staff will place stickers over attendees phone cameras in order to ensure no videos or photos are taken.

Additionally, security will actively monitor the dance floor to prevent anyone from breaking the policy by removing stickers.

This transformation of the UK rave scene has arrived relatively late to Sheffield as these kinds of experiences have become common in other places in the UK. 

Manchester has been a pioneer in the movement, with clubs such as Ambers being one of the earliest to introduce this kind of immersive experience.

Event Banner

Saturday’s event will be headlined by DJ Ewan McVicar, with additional performances from Nick Spencer, Dan O’Shea, Dosdevine, Elle Shaw, Jay Simmonite, Monty, and Taylor Coley.

Tribal Warehouse’s no-phone rave may bring a new era of immersive nightlife to Sheffield as the city embraces this rapidly growing trend.

Lucas Dale.