Staff Editor on July 11th, 2019

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Los Angeles reached peak Billie Eilish this week, with the 17-year-old pop singer headlining three sold-out shows, two at the Shrine Expo Hall and Thursday’s at the Greek Theatre, all in support of her chart-topping album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”

The album is filled with songs about things that go bump in the night, literally and metaphorically, and on Wednesday the audience was woke to her theatrical stage show. LED screens displayed imagery referencing horror, animé and overly sexualized female characters, such as Jessica Rabbit from “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and Holli Would from “Cool World.” The backing beats from brother Finneas O’Connell and a live drummer were chilling and minimal; the singer jumped and prowled the stage as if possessed; and the color of the night was neon green. Both Eilish’s outfit and the streaks in her hair had that glow, and many of her fans had adopted it, too.

The crowd ranged from Eilish’s contemporaries, to parents, to parents with young children atop their shoulders. (Maybe there was some cringing at opening act Earth Gang, late fill-ins after opener Denzel Curry sustained a broken foot on Tuesday night. Earth Gang urged the crowd to flip off “fuckbois and fuckgrls,” as well as raise their middle fingers for all that is wrong in the country).

Eilish, meanwhile, performed 18 songs with no encore, and the faithful knew every word.

She also shared that her first concert ever was at the Shrine, when she accompanied her brother to see the Neighbourhood and watched the show from all the way in the back. She gestured to the far corner of the room and screamed — and the fans in that area screamed back. Then she said how “grateful I am to be over here now, instead of over there.”

Setlist: Bad Guy, My Strange Addiction, You Should See Me in a Crown, Idontwannabeyouanymore, Watch/&burn, Copycat, When I Was Older, Wish You Were Gay, Xanny, All the Good Girls Go to Hell, Ilomilo, Bellache, Bitches Broken Hearts, Listen Before I Go, I Love You, Ocean Eyes, When the Party’s Over, Bury a Friend

Photos by Annie Lesser