Billie Eilish proves she is a pop star for the ages with opening Australian concert

Billie Eilish was caught off guard in a surprising twist of events during the opening Aussie concert of her Happier Than Ever world tour.

The great pop disrupter of her generation Billie Eilish opened the Australian leg of her Happier Than Ever world tour with a joyous scream-athon concert in Sydney on Tuesday.

While small in stature, the 20-year-old loomed as a giant presence on the cavernous stage at Qudos Bank Arena, a production insiders say was bigger than the pyro-fuelled extravaganza of rock legends KISS which filled the hall two weeks before.

After spending the day cruising Newtown’s vintage stores, Eilish brought her infectious energy and innate gift for creating intimacy in an arena packed with 16,000 people to the tightly choreographed show.

Billie Eilish opens her Happier Than Ever tour at Qudos Bank Arena on Tuesday. Picture: Matt Metcalfe/Getty

Her state-of-the-art production, which features LED screens and floors to dazzle the senses with images of fire and water – red and blue were the prevailing colour themes of the night – dictates she cannot deviate from the set which opened in the US in February.

Fans already knew she opens with the bombast of light and sound for Bury A Friend and would end with Happier Than Ever. And all the glorious hits in between including Bad Guy, NDA, My Strange Addiction and When The Party’s Over.

They knew every word of every song and brought their singing game – including devoted gig goer Kasey Chambers who was there with her daughter Poet and mum Di – although rarely did they drown out the singular, enthralling voice of the distinctive pop artist.

Eilish has perhaps the most dexterous and evocative vocals in modern pop.

And there is something uniquely thrilling about the crackling atmosphere created by the communion between Eilish and the adoring, devoted fans who have claimed her songs of young adult heartache and existential angst as their own.

But where you would expect Eilish to be edgy and different to her superstar peers, she proved conventional, drawing heavily from the same pop playbook which has ruled large scale concerts forever.

Eilish’s giant production of LED floors dazzle during the show. Picture: Getty.

The regular “How are we feeling?” check-ins, the Mexican wave armed with phone torches, the division of the arena into segments to see who could scream loudest. Eilish ticked all the boxes.

In fact the only big shock of the night was when there was an impromptu “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi” chant, something Eilish hadn’t heard before.

“What is that?” she asked as the crowd reprised the sporting chant. “Holy f***, I like that.”

Eilish bridged the gap between herself and the audience many times using the central catwalk, a cherry picker to sing to the back and rafters of the arena and jumping into the pits to hug the front rows, some of whom hugged her so tightly security had to delicately remove their constricting arms from around the singer.

A star in the rafters; Eilish on her cherry picker. Picture: Supplied

But through it all, Eilish remained in the zone, giggling, smiling, singing her heart out as she bounced around that expanse of stage and arena to confirm not only her live credentials but she is a pop star for the ages.

She performs two more shows at Qudos Bank Arena on September 14 and 15 before heading to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

All dates and ticket details via https://www.frontiertouring.com/billieeilish