UDO DIRKSCHNEIDER Doesn't Care About Fans Filming Entire Shows On Their Phones: 'What Can You Do Against This?'

In a new interview with Jaqueline Souza of Brazil's Heavy Metal On Line, former ACCEPT and current U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER frontman Udo Dirkschneider was asked if he is the kind performer who gets annoyed by fans in the audience holding up their phones and taking pictures and videos of the band's concerts. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "What can you do against this? Sometimes I don't understand — they're holding the hold the mobile phone for two hours. It's, like, come on — enjoy the show. But some bands now — GHOST, I was, months ago, on a concert here in Germany with GHOST, and there was no mobile phones allowed. If somebody [was] using the phone and recording everything [during the GHOST show], they [were directed] out of the hall. It's very interesting. Also, I heard IRON MAIDEN also, they started [asking their fans], 'Please don't use the mobile phone anymore during the concert.'"

Udo continued: "But it's hard [to decide] how you wanna handle this. Then you need a lot of people [checking] when the people come into the hall to get the phones and then where they put the phones. In a way I can live with that. And it's also good, maybe the bands have to play really good [if they know they are being recorded]. Otherwise [people] see [fan-filmed videos] on YouTube, and if they don't play really good, then it's, like, 'Eh.' Okay. So that means it gives you also a push, 'Don't do any mistakes or whatever, and keep going.' So I don't care about this."

IRON MAIDEN asked fans to put their phones away while attending concerts on the British heavy metal legends' recently launched "Run For Your Lives" world tour. Other acts, such as TOOL, have also employed a similar approach, requesting fans stay off their phones until the final song of their set. Meanwhile, Swedish metallers GHOST have made their entire 2025 and 2026 tours phone-free experiences — with attendees maintaining possession of their phones at all times, secured in Yondr pouches — after playing a pair of phone-free shows in Los Angeles in 2023 for the filming of the "Rite Here Rite Now" concert film.

Last month, Udo told Brazil's Headbangers News that U.D.O. has completed work on the follow-up to the "Touchdown" album, which came out in August 2023 through Atomic Fire Records. The new effort is tentatively due in early 2027.

Udo went on to say that his former ACCEPT bandmate Peter Baltes, who officially joined U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER as the two bands' bassist in 2023, "was very much involved" in the songwriting for the new U.D.O. album. "And I'm really happy to have him back," Dirkschneider said.

Asked if any of the songwriting chemistry of the classic ACCEPT albums like 1982's "Restless And Wild Return" returned instantly once he and Peter started working on music for the upcoming U.D.O. album, Dirkschneider said: "We never sit down and say, 'Okay, we have to do songs like this and this and this way.' It's new stuff coming up. Of course it has a little bit of [the flavor] of the older ACCEPT stuff. Of course, two people [from the classic ACCEPT lineup] are there [in U.D.O. now] — the singer and the bass player. And Peter was also very much involved in songwriting in ACCEPT, and also when ACCEPT did the reunion [more than 15 years ago]. So, yeah, there is a [touch] of [the ACCEPT sound], but I think it's definitely U.D.O. and it's a really straightforward album."

"Touchdown" was recorded at various locations with producer Martin "Mattes" Pfeiffer and was mixed at Redhead Studio (Wilhelmshaven, Germany) while the mastering was handled by Stefan Kaufmann at ROXX Studio (Solingen, Germany). The record included a guest appearance by violinist Stefan Pintev on the title track, and bass tracks were recorded by Baltes. Artwork was provided by Martin Häusler who was also responsible for shooting band photos in support of the album campaign.

In April 2023, Baltes officially joined U.D.O. and DIRKSCHNEIDER. The former ACCEPT bassist had been playing bass for U.D.O. since September 2022, initially as a temporary replacement for U.D.O.'s then-bassist Tilen Hudrap who was hospitalized after the band's show in Munich, Germany.

DIRKSCHNEIDER is the name of Udo's band which performs ACCEPT material exclusively.

Although Udo announced 11 years ago that his initial DIRKSCHNEIDER tour would mark his final time performing ACCEPT songs, he has continued to play select shows under the DIRKSCHNEIDER banner for more than a decade.

DIRKSCHNEIDER recently reimagined ACCEPT's iconic album "Balls To The Wall" to celebrate the LP's 40th anniversary. The band, which also features Udo's son Sven Dirkschneider on drums and the guitar duo of Alen Brentini and Fabian "Dee" Dammers, celebrated the 40th anniversary of "Balls To The Wall", which was originally released in late 1983 and is the most commercially successful and best-known album by ACCEPT, by performing the LP in its entirety on recent tours of South America, North America and Europe.

Guitarist Wolf Hoffmann is the sole remaining original member of ACCEPT, which he formed in 1976 in the town of Solingen, Germany with Dirkschneider and Baltes.

Over the past five decades, ACCEPT has sold millions of albums and inspired countless musicians. Their energetic live performances and iconic albums such as "Balls To The Wall", "Restless And Wild" and "Metal Heart" have left a lasting mark on the heavy metal genre.