“Thank you for giving me the life I have,” Billie Eilish told the sold out crowd at Moody Center on Friday night.
It was halfway through the flawlessly executed second stop of her “Hit Me Hard and Hit Me Soft” tour. As she slowed the set down for an acoustic interlude, the pop star grew emotional.
A massive screen and floating light structures transformed the atmosphere at Moody Center during two sold out Billie Eilish shows in Austin on Nov. 13, 2025. (Henry Hwu/Provided by Live Nation)
She had already prowled the stage, fireballs at her back, on the throwback jab “Therefore I Am;” coaxed her ecstatic fans into pin-drop silence so she could record live vocal loops for a breathtaking rendition of “When the Party’s Over;” and victory lapped around the giant rectangle that framed the stage as she led a word-for-word singalong of “Lunch” — for the uninitiated, a lusty little ditty about a rendezvous with a female companion that has nothing to do with soup-and-salad combos.
Moments earlier, Eilish — looking skate-park chic in an oversized jersey and baggy shorts — was levitating above her six-piece band on “The Greatest,” a power ballad that slow-builds into a soaring reminder to stand in your own power. She leaned into a backbend to deafening screams at the climax.
Billie Eilish played with raw emotion and vulnerability at two sold out shows at Moody Center in Austin on Nov. 13, 2025. (Henry Hwu/Provided by Live Nation)
“It’s a dark time in the world, and it’s hard to feel hopeful, to feel good,” she said, before reminding the crowd that this tour was about creating safe space. “You are free to be whoever you are in here,” she said.
She paused while dedicating “Your Power” to “all those suffering all over the world” to acknowledge the political climate in Texas. “I’m scared for you. I’m worried about you,” she said, before unwinding the aching tale of abuse.
Before Moody Center show, Eilish skyrocketed from SXSW to own ACL Festival
It’s easy to forget that Billie Eilish is only 23 years old because we’ve been living in her twisted “Jabberwocky” of a dream world — and shadow boxing with her nightmares — for years. She was only 15 years old when she played the 2017 South by Southwest Music Festival. When she returned to Austin’s spring fling the following year, “Ocean Eyes” was burning up the indie charts. She was selling out shows nationwide.
In 2019, she taped an episode “Austin City Limits” and played the namesake festival as America’s “Bad Guy” — a song that crushed at Moody Center Friday (duh). Two years later, at 19, she became the youngest artist to headline the fest. The spectacular success of that set reshaped the event. ACL has booked a young, female powerhouse at the top of the bill every year since.
Pop star Billie Eilish performs the first of two sold out shows at Moody Center in Austin on Nov. 13, 2025. Eilish first played Austin as a 15-year-old during South by Southwest 2017. (Henry Hwu/Provided by Live Nation)
But there hasn’t been another artist like Billie Eilish, because, quite frankly, there isn’t one. As a whole, her generation regards genre lineation and the gender binary with the same disdain, but few hop between musical modes so seamlessly. Eilish careened through the most unlikely hit parade of the modern pop canon, from the ravey Charli XCX cover “Guess” to “The Diner,” a skitzy cabaret burner that jauntily skewers a stalker, to the stunningly sophisticated “Skinny.”
“People say I look happy/ Just because I got skinny/ But the old me is still me and maybe the real me/ And I think she’s pretty,” Eilish crooned on the latter, offering a road map through the toxic social media culture her generation inherited with wisdom beyond her years.
Eilish has also taken a stand on the environment. For this tour, she demanded sustainability efforts from each venue she played, including eliminating plastic water bottles and adding vegan menu items. Her crackdown on scalpers meant more of her true fans were able to attend — a crowd that skewed young, female and queer. They rocked boxy jerseys and bandanas or trucker caps over long hair.
In a world where it’s so easy to dwell on what’s being torn down, Eilish is taking small steps to control what she can — to build the world she wants to see.
“I love you so much,” she said near the end of the show. “I feel very grateful that I get to do this and that I get to do this for you. You mean the world to me. I cherish you deeply, and I’ll always be there for you. And I’ll always fight for you.”
Then she took it all home with a slow build to guitar-screeching triumph on “Happier Than Ever,” chased by the bubbling pop closer, “Birds of a Feather.”
There was no encore. Instead, she walked to each side of the audience, smiled warmly and bowed. The crowd thundered. She beamed with gratitude.