Sheffield’s first ever large-scale no phones or filming music event is set to take place this Saturday at FORGE Warehouse.
Nick Spencer, former Hallam student and host of the event, said that the policy is to help people feel more ‘engaged.’
“I’ve been to several events in Manchester that enforced a no-phone filming policy,” Nick said. “I just think it leads to the crowd being a lot more energetic, whereas a lot of the time, people are filming the whole night instead of being involved with the music and dancing.”
“When the crowd’s all speaking to each other and not just being on their phones the whole night, it just leads to a better environment.”
He assures that phones will not be taken off event-goers, instead stickers will be placed over phone cameras to ensure no filming can take place.
Tribal was founded by Nick six years ago while he was a student at Hallam. It was born from a desire to DJ but not being noticed or given opportunities by promoters. Rather than waiting for a chance, he built a platform that not only gave himself a space to explore music but created opportunities for other emerging artists to showcase their talent on the big stage with international acts.
“I started putting on my own nights,” Nick said, “then slowly booking bigger and bigger artists. We’ve had Skream twice, we’ve had Ben Hemsley – you name them, we’ve had them in the venue.”
Originally operating out of Hope Works, Tribal moved to FORGE warehouse when that venue closed, with the city’s biggest venue being indicative of Tribal’s growing name in Sheffield.
This event is the first of its kind in Sheffield and is set to be headlined by international artist, Ewan McVicar, who released the hit ‘Tell Me Something Good’ back in 2021.
Nick describes Ewan’s music as ‘high-energy house, but on an underground level,’ and promises that he will bring the energy.
Joining Nick and Ewan will be other DJ residents of Tribal, Carli Jayne and Oskar.
To buy tickets to the event, check out Tribal’s website here.
