Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish on the O2 in London, England, July 14th, 2025
Jul 18, 2025
I genuinely imagine that if Billie Eilish had been making music after I was teenager, I may need passed over numerous my adolescent self-hatred. Seeing the singer-songwriter take the stage for the third of her six reveals on the O2 Area in London, England, felt like a victory lap for anybody who has ever felt othered. Wearing his signature dishevelled denims and outsized jersey, she might have been any one in every of my highschool buddies (superior), albeit with the sort of voice and songwriting abilities that frequently earns Oscars and Grammys (clearly additionally superior).
Vainness requires that I don’t disclose my age on-line. (Though it needs to be famous I’m about to have a birthday, I’ll take one in every of Billie’s jerseys if anybody is shopping for, thanks.) However I’ll say that I grew up in an age the place journal quizzes helped me decide my good pores and skin (plot twist—we’re all flawed now, now purchase merchandise!), and celebrities Eilish’s age had been requested about their our bodies, not their beliefs. What would we now have manufactured from a live performance beginning with a name to care? Eilish’s set began with a brief video, calling out local weather change (actual!), and calling in her followers to assist make a distinction via actions, together with taking public transit pledging to eat one vegan meal per day for a month—an motion that would save 7 million gallons of water. (If the concept we must always all take private duty resonates with you, you’ll be able to study extra about her Overheated mission on Instagram.)
As for the present itself? Eilish has been writing anthem pop since earlier than she had an anthem to play—it ought to come as no shock that the 23-year-old continues to personal her outsized venues. The massive flat stage, positioned within the middle of the sector was the proper playground for her to run, skip, and even bounce into the nicely the place her brother/co-writer Finneas and backing band had been holding it down. There have been lasers, a glowing dice, and even hearth (a pleasant contact to “dangerous man.”) Mixed with massive overhead screens that captured her each motion (Typically on a hand-held digital camera Elish pointed at herself and the viewers), and it was an Instagramable get together second.
It will have been sufficient if Elish had thrown a dance get together. Her followers, my inside youngster, the mom subsequent to me frantically taking video so her son might dance—everybody sang alongside to the purpose it was usually arduous to listen to her voice over din. (Her cowl of Charli XCX’s “Underwear,” below the requisite Brat-green lighting was a powerful rave-queen second.) However over the 90-minute set, the musician confirmed off her vary, significantly throughout 2018’s “When the Occasion’s Over,” when she requested silence to loop her voice right into a heavenly backing observe. Her cowl of Henry Mancini’s “Moon River” was additionally a stand-out. Audrey Hepburn, who volunteered with UNICEF as a Goodwill Ambassador along with her high-profile day job, would have liked Elish’s soulful tackle the Breakfast at Tiffany’s traditional.
Briefly: Billie Eilish’s O2 efficiency was a communal act low-key revolution. Sure, it’s enjoyable to assemble with all followers of all ages and scream, however for many who by no means noticed ourselves within the pop stars of our youth, it felt like a much-needed correction. And because the remaining notes of “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” floated out into the humid summer season night time, it was clear that Eilish isn’t simply talking to her era—she’s rewriting the foundations for all of us.
Setlist:
1. CHIHIRO
2. LUNCH
3. NDA
4. Due to this fact I Am
5. WILDFLOWER
6. when the get together’s over
7. THE DINER
8. ilomilo
9. dangerous man
10. THE GREATEST
11. Your Energy
12. SKINNY
13. Moon River (Henry Mancini cowl)
14. BITTERSUITE
15. bury a pal
16. Oxytocin
17. Guess (Charli xcx cowl)
18. every part i needed
19. BLUE
20. beautiful / BLUE / ocean eyes
21. L’AMOUR DE MA VIE
22. What Was I Made For?
23. Happier Than Ever
24. BIRDS OF A FEATHER