Live Review: Billie Eilish, FINNEAS

Tonight’s Riverstage show was intended for Eatons Hill Hotel originally, but after tickets were exhausted and demand remained, the move was made to re-ticket the event at the larger, all ages, outdoor venue by the river. But those tickets, too, were a prize item, barely going online before they were snatched up again. 

One look down at the crowd amassed before the support has even emerged begs the question: well, what venue IS big enough for someone like Billie Eilish? The US singer is barely a few years into her career at the age of 17, and already she has a following that is insatiable, passionate, and damn loud.

There is a massive swell undulating across the grounds as predominantly youngsters and teens make their way as close to the front as possible. It’s nice to see a smattering of mums, dads and guardians, but it is absolute chaos down the front when FINNEAS takes the stage. The older brother of Eilish, Finneas O’Connell has carved out his own career away from his sister’s broody pop, instead preferring smooth piano ballads with the odd upbeat guitar track. His gentle croon is a winner, and a million hearts break when he devotes closer Let’s Fall In Love For The Night to his "baby girl".

Before the show can go on, a stern missive from one of the promoter’s people with cops in tow is fired to the pit; an awful lot of pushing and shoving is going on, prompting those misbehaving and those who have had enough to be dragged out. It’s hard to watch, especially with the threat of the show being canned, and their calls to take a step back are ignored until one of the promo reps with a cool-dad vibe steps in to settle things down.

Once calm is restored and after some Tim Burton-esque visuals, Billie Eilish bounds on stage, clad in her usual oversized sports gear and a million pieces of bling. All the nuances of her trilling vocals, which you assume can’t easily be replicated, she nails. And it’s not lost on the fans. During cutaways between a barrage of hits like Bad Guy, You Should See Me In A Crown, Watch, &burn, and Bellyache, we see a crowd shot of one girl weeping on the barrier and it is so telling. This is a voice for their generation – the frustration of relationships in the modern world and expressing one’s self without being too dramatic (but just dramatic enough), topped off by the pressure to always be ‘on’ and look good (and social it) while doing so. She tells us, “I used to cry in my room because I wanted this so bad, now I’m here and it’s a dream – let’s live in the moment.” They’re fitting words before she closes with When The Party’s Over.

The allure of Eilish’s horror-pop is in the underlying rationale – it’s ok to take the good with the bad and think gloomy thoughts from time to time. Her lyrics and visuals humanise these feelings. She could be criticised for romanticising them, but that’s art.