Billie Eilish
3Arena, Dublin
★★★★☆
The last time Billie Eilish played Ireland she was battling a nasty virus and had to dig deep to make it through. Two years on from that performance at Electric Picnic, she returns sniffle-free and radiating a cheery charm at odds with her public persona as the grungiest pop star of her generation.
That isn’t the only way in which things have been flipped on their head for this stunning show. For her new tour, Eilish has brought the stage into the crowd, performing on a huge LED panel set sideways in the middle of the venue. It is 50 per cent boxing ring, 50 per cent Blade Runner neon wonderland – a thunderclap of digital sorcery that elevates the evening beyond just another arena jamboree rolling into Dublin’s docklands.
The framing gives the Los Angeles-born artist room to roam, and she makes the most of it, running back and forth and pogoing enthusiastically. It also provides a fantastic view to fans up front and those in the cheap seats (if “cheap” applies to a concert where ticket prices start at more than €100 and soar as high as €300: this new tour preaches sustainability – except where punters’ wallets are concerned).
[ Kneecap to play main stage at Electric Picnic in AugustOpens in new window ]
She begins suspended in a blinking cube, from which she belts out Chihiro, a dreamy, rave-influenced stomper from her 2024 third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. Descending to earth, she turns from pop to raunchy electro-goth with Lunch. The song is a swelteringly suggestive ditty, the carnal undertones of which presumably/hopefully soar over the heads of the many 10-year-olds yelling the lyrics.
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Eilish is a pop A-lister with a twist. Her fashion sense is suburban skate punk – on Saturday night she wears a baseball cap and a baggy sports top – and she is far too cool for anything as tacky as backing dancers. But she knows how to make a statement. She demonstrates that point when looping her vocals at the start of her brilliant dirge When the Party’s Over and then finishing the tune on her back, cast in gleaming white light, as if singing from the pits of purgatory.
There is some canned banter. Here she comes close to losing her footing. Billie – real name Billie O’Connell – reveals that she is “Irish”. “Obviously, I’m not from here, but it’s really cool to come somewhere where everyone looks exactly like you,” she observes during an acoustic section where she is accompanied by backing singers and childhood friends Ava and Jane Horner. “You’re all just as pasty as me.”
[ Joanna Lumley: ‘I love Ireland as much as you can if you’re not an Irish person’Opens in new window ]
There is, however, a near stumble, with one or two boos ringing out as she says that “being in the UK again is amazing” – though she quickly adds that “being in Europe again is amazing”, which appears to mollify the hecklers. She later reveals that her mother and father are in attendance. As is the Co Kildare woman after whom she is named. (The original Eilish was the subject of a documentary that left a lasting impression on her parents.)
An outstanding performance from pop’s princess of pessimism finishes with perhaps her most atypical hit, the beautifully bittersweet Birds of a Feather, the most-streamed song in the world in 2024. With confetti swirling, it is a triumphant ending to a show that is elevated by the ingenious staging.
But it’s Eilish’s mix of spiky charisma and brightly burning talent that ultimately makes the evening soar. In a crowded field of high-wattage chart-toppers, she brings something weird and bruised and real. Fuelled by that left-field energy, the concert is a masterclass in the dark art of being a pop star with a twist.
