On the internet, it’s easy to find a short clip of Billie Eilish hearing herself on the radio for the very first time in December 2015.
The song is “Ocean Eyes,” the station is KCRW-FM, and Eilish, then 13, or maybe just turned 14, listens with a big smile as her brother Finneas O’Connell, who wrote the song, and their parents celebrate at their Highland Park home.
Fast-forward to the Kia Forum on Sunday, Dec. 15 where Eilish, who turns 23 on Wednesday, Dec. 18, kicked off the first of a five-night hometown run of shows. “Ocean Eyes” arrives late in the set, and it’s striking how timeless the song remains.
At this point – after all the Grammys, after a pair of Oscars for best song, after all the hit records and sold-out shows – it’s obvious Eilish is a generational talent. And at the Forum, her tour behind her third album “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” delivered a performance and production to equal the ever-increasing sophistication of her music.
Eilish opened the night with “Chihiro,” hidden inside a glowing cube of video screens that pulsed with the beat until Eilish appeared on a platform that slowly rose from within. A large rectangular stage covered the middle of the arena floor with sunken pits at each end for her band.
“Lunch” followed, its low-end electropop groove rumbling through the venue as Eilish ran around the stage and video images of her appeared on the giant video panels above her and on floor beneath her feet as well.
After another pair of songs, “NDA” and “Therefore I Am,” the latter of which included blasts of pyro from the band pits, Eilish struck a pose at centerstage, standing motionless and smiling for several minutes as cheers rained down from the packed rings of seats around her. “Hello, everyone!” she said and more screams erupted.
This was, you should know, a very, very loud crowd. Not just with their enthusiastic response at the end of each song, either. Outside of maybe Harry Styles at the Kia Forum in October 2022, I couldn’t immediately recall another crowd here that sang along as consistently and loudly – and accurately! – throughout the night.
After that rush of energy to open the set, the show shifted into a slower, softer gear for the next few songs, with “When the Party’s Over” the highlight of this early run of songs. Eilish asked fans to be silent for a minute or so as she looped her own vocals into a stack of wordless harmonies and immediately the arena became pin-droppingly quiet.
The harmonies alone were gorgeous, her vocal and keyboard accompaniment even more so, and the crowd exploded with cheering and singing to echo her voice ’til the finish.
Other highlights of the first half of the show included “Bad Guy,” her No. 1 single from 2019, and “Your Power,” which was sung with her childhood friends and current backing vocalists Ava and Jane Horner with Eilish accompanying herself on acoustic guitar.
That last one, which portrays an abusive, toxic relationship in its lyrics, offered a glimpse of the advocacy Eilish has embraced as a role model for her listeners and particularly young women.
“To everyone in the room, but specifically women in the room, I want you to know you are safe here and you’re seen and I love you,” she said by way of introduction to the number.
A second point of activism arrived a few songs later, during “TV,” which with its chorus of “Maybe I’m the problem” spotlights the ways in which we distract ourselves from personal or societal growth through escapist fare.
“And I’ll be in denial for at least a little while / What about the plans we made?” Eilish sang. “The internet’s gone wild watching movie stars on trial – “
” – while they’re overturning Roe v. Wade,” the crowd chorus roared to complete the verse.
The back half of the show dipped slipped in a few minimalist electro-dance numbers such as “Bury A Friend” and “Oxytocin,” as well as “Guess,” her 2024 collaboration with Charli XCX.
After “Lovely/Ocean Eyes,” she noted this run of shows are her last for the year, adding that these hometown shows are special, and shouted out her parents, Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell, in the audience. Maggie Baird’s nonprofit Support and Feed, which on Friday, Dec. 13 was honored at Metallica’s Helping Hands concert at the YouTube Theater next door, also had a presence at the Kia Forum on Sunday.
Eilish sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” to celebrate the season, and then ran through the final run of songs with “La Amour de Ma Vie” slipping from a jazzy pop feel into a dance-club rave-up before bringing out her brother Finneas to some of the loudest cheers of the night.
Together they performed a gorgeous rendition of “What Was I Made For?” from 2022’s “Barbie,” which won the pair their second Oscar for best original song, and then “Happier Than Ever,” which opened with Finneas on acoustic guitar before building to a big finish.
“Birds of a Feather,” which reached No. 2 on the charts earlier this year, closed out the night, its love song lyrics paired with upbeat modern rock rhythms, with both Billie and Finneas walking around the stage while singing and playing guitars.
Opening the night for Eilish was the Los Angeles-based indie band the Marias, whose breezy, jazz-inflected pop was a laidback soundtrack to begin the night. As singer Maria Zardoya walked the stage, singing in both English and sometimes Spanish, songs such as “No One Noticed” and “Cariño” earned the kind of response that opening acts often deserve but don’t always get.