Last night’s (June 24) crowd at Glastonbury Festival’s Pyramid Stage was embroidered with young girls rocking black-and-green wigs, supportive flags rippling in the breeze, and t-shirts with global superstar Billie Eilish’s face printed on them. But despite the incredible amount of hardcore fans woven into the exultant crowd, revellers still screamed in pure, euphoric shock when the 20-year-old leapt onto the stage, and gave a literally explosive performance.
Preceded by Geordie legend Sam Fender, when Eilish was announced as Friday’s Worthy Farm headliner, it was a huge moment - and not just for her fans. On Friday night, Billie became the youngest ever headliner to grace Glastonbury in its 50 year history.
Despite being over 5,000 miles from her hometown of Los Angeles, Eilish looked comfier than ever as she bounced onto the stage to the tune of thousands of screaming fans, with pyrotechnics roaring around her. Joined by her brother, best friend, and producer, Finneas, and drummer, Andrew Marshall, Eilish commanded the attention of the elated crowd, mesmerised members of which hailed from all genders, races, and age groups; everybody loved Eilish.
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If you were not in attendance for Eilish’s lesson on how to really work your audience, then fear not, as we’ve rounded up some of the most memorable moments from the ‘Happier Than Ever’ songstress’ set. And, don’t forget, you can always watch Eilish’s set on BBC iPlayer if you missed it last night.
Phenomenal pyrotechnics
From the second the Pyramid Stage’s lights dimmed against the backdrop of Somerset’s sparkling twilight, everybody in the crowd, for lack of a better phrase, went nuts. With sensational strobe lighting which eventually dissipated into purple and a bassy ‘Happier Than Ever’ infused track charging up the thousands of lit-up faces down below, Eilish exploded onto stage to excitable chants of her name.
Illuminated by a pure white screen which reflected the concentration of exhilaration and elation down below, Billie then ran down a ramp before being bathed in firelight, as streams of flames roared upwards and her 2019 track, ‘bury a friend’, began to punch its way through the speakers and into the crowd. It was a four-dimensional experience, with rapturous revellers down below feeling the warmth of the fire against their faces with every roar as marvelled at Billie somehow managing to effortlessly bounce around and belt out the hit, taking full advantage of her incredible breath control.
She laid out some ground rules
It’s pretty easy to get carried away at shows, and with Billie being many festivalgoers’ favourite artist, emotions were high. But the crowd were respectful of others, with virtually no boisterous pushing or bickering, a feat which can be attributed to the star of the show.
Billie took a moment amongst her passionate performing to speak with the crowd, some of whom had been waiting for hours in the inconsistent drizzle to secure a good view of their idol. After being rendered speechless by the sheer size of the crowd in front of her, the singer said: “Oh my god, I f***ing love you guys.
“Three rules I say [at] every show. Number one: don’t be an a**hole. Number two: don’t judge anybody out here, okay? No judgement. Nada.
“And number three is have fun, b***h!”
She had the whole crowd screaming continuously for twenty seconds straight
One thing about Billie is that her fans will do pretty much anything she tells them to, which, given the mentality of some artists, could pose some problems for some fanbases. But the star kept issuing commands of self care and self love, asking her fans to take a deep breath and shake their limbs around at various points in the show.
Issuing a caution before launching into ‘you should see me in a crown’, the American star told her fans: “I’m going to ask you to scream really loudly for this next song at one point, and I want you to think about the thing that’s p***ing you off and I want you to scream at it.”
When the moment came, Billie yelled down the mic, “Scream as loud as you possibly can!”. And everybody obliged; for about 22 seconds straight, thousands of joyful screams could be heard across the audience, before Billie put the song back into orbit.
A passing yet poignant statement on the reversal of Roe v. Wade
After a Supreme Court ruling yesterday, abortion clinics have already started to close across some US states after Roe v Wade was reversed. American women in these states no longer have the constitutional right to abortion as a result, with President Joe Biden branding the ruling as a ‘tragic error’.
As the sensational sibling duo sat down towards the front of the stage with guitars, a change in atmosphere prepared the audience for a slower ballad from Billie and Finneas. Acquainting her adoring audience with Finneas, Eilish said: “This is my brother and my best friend and we make everything together, and he’s just the best.
“And the song we’re about to do is I think one of our favourites that we’ve written - it’s about the concept of power and how we need to always remember not to abuse it. Today is a really, really dark day for women in the U.S., and I’m just gonna say that because I can’t bear to think about it any longer in this moment.”
She spoke about her history-defying feat
Eilish may be a global superstar, but that does not make her immune from imposter’s syndrome, it appears. Speaking to her fans before kicking off her two closing songs, ‘bad guy’ and ‘Happier Than Ever’, Eilish said: “Glastonbury, I only have two more songs left and I just wanted to say that I am so undeserving of this, so thank you for letting me do it.
“I am so f***ing thrilled to be here. I am so honoured to be here.
“I love all of you and the other incredible artists and the history of this festival. I really just want to show my thanks to all of you, you guys are troopers with your f**ing tents and sh*.”
Even if revellers were elsewhere at Glastonbury, whether that be at their campsites, getting ready for a night in their tents, or singing along to another artist the other side of the site, practically every festivalgoer saw Eilish’s explosive ending. Joyfully jogging up and down the runway, which projected out into the crowd, the second half of TikTok trend track ‘Happier Than Ever’ was met with fireworks which fizzled up into the night sky before erupting into bright blossoms, signalling the end of the historic set.
