Fans may wait years of their life to meet and connect with their favorite artists – but Billie Eilish fans’ only job Wednesday night was to show up.
And they did. Pop star Billie Eilish performed her first of two shows at the United Center to a sold-out crowd, yet still she managed to connect with the audience members in the very last rows.
At first, the setlist may seem to be a ride full of whiplash, switching from energetic track to “sad playlist” ballad. But the roughly 100 minutes with Eilish is anything but — unless you fulfill the stereotype of an “emotional fan” who had a countdown to the show date.
Eilish intentionally crafts the setlist to create emotional breaks for the audience with high-energy tracks, such as the iconic “bad guy” to the subsequent rendition of “THE GREATEST,” which had audience members swaying with their flashlights out, phones raised high in the air.
The performance kicked off with openers pop rock duo Nat and Alex Wolff. The New York City-based group played an electrifying performance that captured the crowd’s attention with short anecdotes about their songs before making them come to life with center-stage instrumentation. One of their new songs, the Eilish-produced “Soft Kissing Hour,” played before the duo turned the stage over to Eilish.
In the days leading up to her Chicago performance, TikToks of Eilish’s post-election performances circulated, which included knowing pauses after a line in her song “TV”: “The internet’s gone wild watching movie stars on trial while they’re overturning Roe v. Wade.”
The crowd screamed the latter half of the line with all of the emotion in the Land of Lincoln. Eilish paused thereafter before continuing with the lyrics “Maybe I’m the problem.” Her audience, reciprocating the love, yelled, “You are not the problem.”
Eilish prepared the crowd beforehand with a powerful performance of “Your Power,” a song fitting for the array of possibilities a new presidency has in store. Before performing, she seemed to empathize with the audience: “It’s been a tough week for us all.”
The performance built up the anticipation for a message to her fans: “I just want to say you are safe in this room.” She followed with the Barbie movie hit single “What Was I Made For?” Singing the song while seated on the edge of the stage, she joined audiences in the existential chain reaction the song set off.
Still, Eilish was versatile between being playful and serious. For instance, she played with two bras while singing “LUNCH” near the start to lighten the atmosphere when the mood started to get somber. The performance also featured her handheld camera perspective, which was displayed on the center screen.
Aside from the intimacy with Eilish, the audience was able to contribute to the music of the night. Before performing “when the party’s over,” Eilish requested silence from the audience for 30 seconds, allowing her to record vocal tracks in real time that would vibrate through the arena. While the audience’s vocals weren’t made present, the respectful silence, mixed with awe, was the collaboration worth waiting for.
While there was no encore, there didn’t need to be one. With the help of lights and her own instrumentation, Eilish met her fans, and they got to meet her.
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