Review: Billie Eilish kicks off Australian tour in Brisbane

She might not have felt 100 per cent but Billie Eilish gave her all in her first of several Brisbane shows, professing her love for Australia. READ OUR REVIEW

Billie Eilish on the opening night of her Australian tour at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. Picture: Henry Wu

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Billie Eilish doesn’t need elaborate costume changes or flashy backup dancers to captivate a crowd.

Instead, the 23-year-old pop icon lets her raw talent, genre-bending setlist, and jaw-dropping stage production do all the talking.

And Brisbane? Well, Brisbane talked back – loudly.

Eilish kicked off the Australian leg of her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Tuesday night, marking her first international show of 2025.

And it was nothing short of a spectacle.

From the moment I stepped inside the arena, the massive centrestage setup made one thing clear — there wasn’t a bad seat in the house.

Even the diehard fans who camped out for four days may have questioned their choices when they realised that no matter where you stood, you were no more than eight rows deep from the action.

Then the lights dimmed.

A wave of anticipation rippled through the crowd before plunging the arena into a sea of screams.

Some fans had queued since Saturday to be at the front. Picture: Henry Wu

The first beats of CHIHIRO dropped, and Eilish’s silhouette emerged — inside a cage (or so we thought).

As LED lights flickered around the structure, fans braced themselves for the cage to lift, revealing Eilish beneath it.

Billie talking about her love for Australia during her show in Brisbane! 😭💙

Watch the show live here: https://t.co/IdmsAxAulOpic.twitter.com/r1e9IBHmK5

— Billie Eilish Australia (@AusEilish) February 18, 2025

But instead, the entire stage elevated, leaving an empty cage below — while Eilish casually appeared on top of the floating structure.

“Brisbane, how you feeling tonight?” she asked the raucous crowd.

Sporting a backwards baseball cap and a green-and-gold polo, a very fitting for an Aussie welcome, Eilish owned the stage from the jump.

She oozed charisma, confidence, and dare I say, a hint of rock star sex appeal as she stomped through Therefore I Am, complete with a fire pyrotechnic display that turned the Entertainment Centre into a furnace.

“This is like a nightclub,” my friend shouted into my ear, attempting to be subtle. Impossible.

One of the show’s most powerful moments came when Eilish called for calm.

“For the first 40 seconds or some sh*t, we need complete silence,” she instructed before launching into a live recording of When the Party’s Over.

And Brisbane delivered.

Billie Eilish oozed charisma and confidence on the Brisbane Entertainment Centre stage. Picture: Henry Wu

What followed was an eerily beautiful, near-religious experience.

The hush was deafening, broken only by the sound of Eilish’s harmonised vocals drifting through the arena like a ghostly whisper.

But not long after, Eilish got brutally honest.

“I was sick for literally four months straight,” she admitted.

“I have sinusitis… I got sick again three days before this tour.

“My voice sounds horrible, and I’m embarrassed. I’ve been feeling insecure. I’m sorry if I sound like sh*t.”

The crowd, violently opposed to this self-deprecating moment, erupted into a chorus of boos (the loving kind), making it very clear: Eilish did not sound like sh*t.

Unlike pop stars who rely on grand spectacle, Eilish kept things relatively stripped back. There were no backup dancers, no overwhelming visuals — just creative camerawork and a hyperactive stage presence that had Brisbane screaming louder than I’ve ever heard at the Entertainment Centre.

The fans were unhinged (in the best way possible).

Brisbane fans were treated to an eerily beautiful, near-religious experience. Picture: Henry Wu

From the moment support act Ashnikko hit the stage to Eilish’s final bow, the crowd did. not. stop.

It wasn’t rowdy or aggressive — there was just pure, euphoric energy.

Mid-show, Eilish took a moment to reflect on her early years touring Australia.

“This is the first place I ever toured,” she reminisced.

“I remember debuting When the Party’s Over here.”

Then, she made a subtle but unmistakeable dig at the political climate back home.

“Sh*t is really, really bad in the US right now,” she said before launching into Your Power. “This song is relevant, I guess.”

As the night drew to a close, Eilish delivered a stripped-back rendition of Lovely and Ocean Eyes at the piano, before sending the crowd into a final frenzy with her latest chart-topper Birds of a Feather.

Then, in classic Eilish style — no dramatic goodbyes, no grand speech — she gave a few bows, sprinted off stage through the crowd, and vanished.

I left the Entertainment Centre feeling like I had been, well, hit hard and soft.

And honestly? I’m already scheming ways to snag tickets for her next three Brisbane shows.

#HARDANDSOFTBrisbane1: Billie performed ‘BLUE’ for the first time on the piano during opening night at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre tonight in Brisbane, AUS! 🫧

📸: sparkle_diamondartasmr via Tiktok https://t.co/irEoN75DVj

— Billie Eilish Tours (@billieeilishtrs) February 18, 2025

Originally published as Review: Billie Eilish kicks off Australian tour in Brisbane