Concert Review: Billie Eilish – Spark Arena, April 24, 2019

The macabre visuals and infectious beats of Billie Eilish entranced a possessed crowd inside Auckland’s Spark Arena last night, at the sold-out opening show of her 2019 When We All Fall Asleep, World Tour.

Billie Eilish is a strange phenomenon of youth pop celebrity who, at 17 years old, has sold out every gig on her When We All Fall Asleep, World Tour in a matter of minutes. Last night she showed she’s harnessed her original sound and transformed it into something that visually and aurally burrows into your brain.

Supported by brother, co-writer, producer, and band member, Finneas, with a playfully confident and brief set, the crowd got their first taste of Eilish through his variance of musical style and unfazed solo presence. It was refreshing in a way, to see someone so stripped back and just purely astonished by the crowd reaction to their performance, but it also reflected the pair’s embodiment of youth, both in their unique sound and the crowd itself.

Opening with an ethereal, spooky cartoon visual, I’d never heard a crowd scream with such ferocity as they did when Billie Eilish took to the stage. Have you ever seen early, live performances of The Beatles where a hint of the band is heard beneath a tsunami of exhaustive screaming? That was the closest I could compare it to, with a sold-out Spark Arena unifying in ear-splitting appreciation as Eilish dropped into her irresistibly catchy tune, bad guy.

The crowd only stopped screaming long enough to sing every lyric, in unison, to nearly every song throughout the 75-minute set. This frenzy continued through my strange addiction and Lovely, before Eilish addressed the crowd to ask them to make room on the floor for the limb-flailing crowd dancing of you should see me in a crown.

Eilish told the crowd she felt like she was dreaming more than once, and it was easy to see why. Calling the house lights up after watch to reveal a stadium packed with hypnotised fans of all ages hooked on her grim, contagious lullabies and anaesthetised vocal aesthetic, it revealed a young artist embracing – and still realising – her own rapid ascent into superstardom.

Admittedly, there’s still a balance she’s yet to perfectly find her footing with. The mix of styles and musical genres almost works perfectly, but softer, serenading songs idontwannabeyouanymore, wish you were gay, and ilomilo seemed to drag the set backward toward Lana Del Rey territory, albeit in a sweeter tone.

Still, there were moments of absolute genius musical talent – the instant hook of bad guy, the floorboard-creaking bass sound of xanny, and the demonic, distorted closing song, bury a friend. The crowd was also gifted the first-ever live performance of i love you, following Eilish’s instructions to use their phone torchlights to create a sea of swaying, artificial starlight around the arena.

Eilish followed this by asking the crowd to put away their phones, and “be present, in this moment, with me”, which many of the fans obliged, as she performed when the party’s over, a song she performed for the first time ever to a 200-strong crowd at the neighbouring Tuning Fork venue just over a year ago.

Part insatiable electro-trap demon, and part spooky pop sweetheart, the trance Eilish applied to her fans throughout was a mix of insatiable adoration and manic frenzy, providing an unforgettable gig that left them in a heightened state of joy, and hungering for more – always more – of this mysterious, otherworldly performer.

Oxford Lamoureux

Billie Eilish setlist:

bad guy

my strange addiction

Lovely

you should see me in a crown

idontwannabeyouanymore

It’s the Hard-Knock Life / watch

COPYCAT

WHEN I WAS OLDER

wish you were gay

xanny

all the good girls go to hell

listen before i go

ilomilo

Bellyache

i love you

ocean eyes

when the party’s over

bury a friend

goodbye (closing)