Random Thoughts on a Billie Eilish Gig
Off to see Billie Eilish this evening in the 3 Arena Dublin. After having seen a super outdoor gig in Madrid earlier in the week attended by many OAPs to watch a group of even older men on stage in the shape of The Rolling Stones, it’ll be an interesting comparison to attend an indoor gig presumably full of pubescent girls there to watch a girl onstage who is not much older than them. I like much of Billie’s recorded output so let’s see how she shapes up live....
Waiting for a gig to start is a strange dynamic, particularly strange when you are solo… for me it’s hard to match the excitement of an expectant crowd on the brink of showtime, even amongst such a ridiculously young crowd with little gig going experience
Lots of gay, trans and ‘whatever you’re having yourself’ attendees,,,,,,,,it hit me at the Gibson Hotel pre show where I was immediately struck by the stark difference between the largely male, old, hetero audience at the Stones and this lovely diverse rainbow audience heading to Billie tonight.
Waiting for the gig to start, it’s also very weird at the minute…..any piece of music starts up the young attendees think it’s her arriving onstage and they scream their lungs out….and when she finally emerges at 6 minutes past her due time they loose themselves completely.
Now, the first thing that strikes me is that if Billie Eilish came down off stage and stood amongst the crowd I’d be hard pressed to tell her apart, she has none of the stage presence of a GaGa or a Beyonce and certainly not the costumes, but that’s presumably part of her appeal to an audience who can totally see themselves in her.
Having said that, what she herself lacks visually is more than amply compensated by the on screen visuals, which put me in mind of a mix of Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk style onstage visuals……….
For a time I wander around on the floor observing how much the crowd are loving it, but also thinking that clearly many of them aren’t experienced gig goers, come to think of it actually they aren’t experienced at anything. (Earlier outside I’d given a spare ticket to 40ish woman who was trying to buy one from a tout so she could go inside to ‘protect her daughter’ so she said)
Mid show in the toilet I again realise what a diverse crowd this is, there’s people of indeterminate sex in there chatting up other indeterminate people, then I come out and see a very non Irish looking man serving me a beer, and I realise that on my first full day back in my hometown that it’s just a reflection of the way the world is nowadays I suppose, but OMG how it’s changed from the dour black and white RC church ruled state of my adolescence. Whoo hoo as Mick n Keef might say!😎
Meantime I spend much of the gig analysing the crowd who seem utterly transfixed by this largely unremarkable girl (unremarkable to my eyes and ears, but what do I know?). For me the most interesting part of the show is the acoustic part, some of it with her brother and co-writer Finneas, and some on her own, including a nice rendition of “Male Fantasy”, one of my fave tunes of hers. And weirdly, at one point the gig reminds me go some of the yoga and breath works retreats i’ve immersed myself in during recent years, because Eilish gets the crowd to do some deep breathing and thought cleansing. Give her another five years and she’ll be a full on guru
Indubitably it’s a well rehearsed show, like many large scale gigs these days, with little room for spontaneity,,,,,and while Billie is clearly a showgirl, and already at 20 years of age adept at working a huge crowd, I wouldn’t put her in the same league as my fave female artist of recent years, Lana Del Rey, nor even someone like Beyonce who has to be amongst the key touchstones for female live performers.
It made me think of an Avril Lavigne gig here in the old Point about 20 years ago and in some ways Billie reminds me of Avril at that time, a precocious, adrenaline fuelled, teenage starlet, but I suspect she’ll have more longevity that Avril, especially with bother Finneas at her songwriting side.
Although I’m familiar with Billie’s music on record and like it, and admire her as a person, if I’m being honest her live show does little for me. As she sings on the opening tune on her latest album “every sentence sounds rehearsed”, and to my ears overall the gig sounded just a bit too over rehearsed.
Another thing which struck me was that the lack of spontaneity presumably didn’t allow time for her to acknowledge her Irish American heritage (unless I missed it while being struck dumb by the goings on in the toilet!). Presumably such an acknowledgement would have gone down a treat with many of the audience at this her largest Irish show to date (excluding Electric Picnic)
And was it my imagination, or did she cut short my fave tune of hers, “Ocean Eyes”, which was used to great effect in the spooky sci-fi show DEVS.
Another disappointment was not hearing one of my fave tunes of hers, the largely Spanish language “Lo Vas A Olvidar” which she released last year with Spanish pop sensation Rosalia, perhaps because she doesn’t actually speak Spanish
A little over 90 minutes for the show, not bad for an artist with 2 albums and a few EPs and singles to her name, although witnessing the Rolling Stones, who are almost 4 times her age, perform for more than 2 hours earlier this week did make me wonder a little about the stamina of today’s generation (and yea I know that makes me sound old, but hey, don’t get upset, it’s only rock n roll and we like it!)
So while I will continue to look forward to hearing new tunes from Billie and Finneas, as they always craft something interesting together, I won’t be rushing to go see her live show again any time soon.
Final thoughts and here’s the thing…………. despite my disappointment with her show, I emerge from the gig feeling wonderful because of the uplifting humanity and loving feelings experienced in the 3 Arena this evening….as I’m leaving leave I witness 2 young girls cuddling and kissing and I’m thinking I’ve missed so much of the new generation because of not having kids, I felt really out of place in a lot of ways not just because of my age or because of my sexuality……having said that. I can’t help coming away feeling uplifted by humanity because i realise that that in the midst of human sexuality changing before our eyes in ways possibly unimagined when I was born, the method of conception will inevitably change, Ibut think mankind will survive,,,,,,,and emerging from a gig inspired by humanity is as good a way to feel after a show as any 😊