Six songs into the first of her two nights at a full Smoothie King Center, Billie Eilish sat cross-legged and convened a high-tech campfire singalong.<\/p>\n
She asked her audience, nicely but firmly, to go against its collective instinct and be quiet. She needed silence so she could record \u201cloops\u201d of her own voice in real time, then stack them together to harmonize with herself on \u201cWhen the Party\u2019s Over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Save the squawk of an EMT\u2019s walkie-talkie and a couple of outliers who were quickly shouted down, the arena did, in fact, go quiet. Once the arrangement\u2019s base of harmonies was built, Eilish laid on her back, playing with her hair as she sang the rest of “When the Party’s Over.”<\/p>\n
It was as if she was back in her bedroom at her parents\u2019 house, where she and her co-writer\/producer brother, Finneas O\u2019Connell, conceived and recorded the songs that would make her a star.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Billie Eilish performs in New Orleans on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, on the first of her two consecutive nights at a full Smoothie King Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n
PROVIDED PHOTO BY HENRY HWU<\/p>\n
At only 23, Billie Eilish is a primary force in progressive pop music. Her third studio album, 2024\u2019s \u201cHit Me Hard and Soft,\u201d continued her string of critical and commercial successes. Like its predecessors, it found fresh ways to showcase her striking soprano and sometimes stark point of view.<\/p>\n
Making clever recordings is one thing. Translating them into a compelling concert is something else entirely. But across the hour and 40 minutes that Eilish spent on stage Nov. 7, the necessary charisma, camaraderie, command and high concept all abounded.<\/p>\n
In-the-round community<\/p>\n
Setting the stage in the center of the arena floor allowed for tickets to be sold around the arena\u2019s entire circumference, bumping capacity up to 16,000. The in-the-round configuration also enhanced the sense of community\u00a0\u2014 everyone faces fellow fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Eilish made a point of working all four sides of the stage, even as an array of LED screens suspended form the rafters gave everyone a straight-on view. Throughout the night, she celebrated her community with the caveat that she is clearly in charge of it.<\/p>\n
She first materialized atop a central LED cube in her signature stage attire: baggy, jersey-style shirt and equally baggy gym shorts. Her musicians and two backing vocalists occupied two square pits sunk into the stage, which was itself a giant, horizontal screen.<\/p>\n
The chill club pulse of the opening \u201cCHIHIRO\u201d\u00a0\u2014 the first of eight songs from \u201cHit Me Hard and Soft\u201d to turn up in the setlist\u00a0\u2014 was augmented by icy blue lights. The energy changed entirely as the stage pulsed blue, yellow and red for \u201cLUNCH.\u201d The screams from an audience that skewed heavily young and female were deafening.<\/p>\n