Billie Eilish has played an intimate London gig, with guest appearances from Labrinth and Boygenius. Check out footage and the full setlist below.
* READ MORE: Billie Eilish at Reading Festival: returning hero cements place as festival legend
The show took place tonight (August 29) in the Electric Ballroom venue in Camden, and saw the singer and Finneas perform fan favourites including ‘Bad Guy’ and ‘Therefore I Am’, as well as bring out some special guests.
Eilish announced the surprise show on Saturday (August 26) — the day after she headlined the opening night of Leeds Festival. Unsurprisingly, tickets sold out almost instantly, and some fans even camped outside the venue the night before.
Kicking off the set, the singer opened with performances of ‘Bury A Friend’ and ‘I Didn’t Change My Number’, before launching into 2020’s ‘Therefore I Am’. The highlights of the evening came midway through the set, however, when Eilish invited two special guests into the Camden stage.
Billie Eilish & Labrinth – “Never Felt So Alone”. pic.twitter.com/V1icgyk9d4
— Billie Eilish Brasil (@BillieEilishBR) August 29, 2023
The first of which was singer, songwriter, rapper and record producer, Labrinth, who joined the 21-year-old for a rendition of their track ‘Never Felt So Alone’. Find footage of the moment above.
The second of the special guests came just two tracks later, when Eilish brought Boygenius to the stage for a performance of ‘When The Party’s Over’. Before she announced the trio, she told fans to lower their phones for a moment, so she could see their faces as she told them who the second guest would be.
“I’m in love with all three of them. Truly,” she said hugging Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker as they left the stage after the track.
Another angle of boygenius performing When The Party’s Over with Billie Eilish at her show tonight!! pic.twitter.com/v3vO7CLSd3
— phoebe on tour (@bridgersontour) August 29, 2023
The Boys performing When the party’s over with Billie Eilish tonight at her ONO in London pic.twitter.com/Oe3PWpNz0a
— boygenius source (@boygeniussource) August 29, 2023
Before inviting either of the guests on stage, Eilish also teased fans by singing a brief a Capella rendition of ‘My Boy’, before admitting that she hadn’t really brought the tape to properly perform the track.
From then, she launched into her 2017 song ‘Bellyache’. Check out the full setlist and more footage from the show below.
Boygenius cantando 'When The Party's Over' da Billie Eilish hoje (29/08). pic.twitter.com/5Gpi2a5gS4
— boygenius brasil (@boygeniusbrasil) August 29, 2023
will i go to hell if i kms infront of boygenius and billie eilish.
pic.twitter.com/YFlLrwfDGi
— no. (@ilomi7o) August 29, 2023
managed to capture my favourite billie eilish video with my own phone pic.twitter.com/SsoauL9QG7
— millie (@warninglovers) August 29, 2023
pic.twitter.com/YvodmoX0CO
— Billie Eilish Tours Media (@billieeilishts) August 29, 2023
Billie Eilish played:
1. ‘bury a friend’
2. ‘I Didn’t Change My Number’
3. ‘Therefore I Am’
4. ‘my strange addiction’
5. ‘idontwannabeyouanymore’
6. ‘xanny’
7. ‘bitches broken hearts’
8. ‘What Was I Made For?’
9. ‘Oxytocin’ (Contains elements of ‘COPYCAT’)
10. ‘ilomilo’
11. ‘i love you’
12. ‘Your Power’
13. ‘bellyache (with a line of ‘My Boy’)
14. ‘ocean eyes’
15. ‘Never Felt So Alone’ (with Labrinth)
16. ‘wish you were gay’
17. ‘when the party’s over’ (with Boygenius)
18. ‘everything i wanted’
19. ‘bad guy’
20. ‘Happier Than Ever’
Elsewhere at the intimate London gig, Eilish also paused the show numerous times to check on the wellbeing of the audience, and call out the lack of security available to pass water out to struggling fans.
“Can we get some water for these folks? Like where is security? Am I security now?” She told the crowd, pausing the set twice during ‘Therefore I am’ to ensure people in the audience were safe.
“I haven’t played a small venue in literally six years. I’ve forgotten how to do this… I’m having an anxiety attack right now,” she continued. “This felt like a good idea… Once. You guys look like you’re gonna die, take a step back.”
This was the first of multiple times she stopped the show to urge security to pass water out to the audience.
Billie Eilish performs at Electric Ballroom on August 29, 2023 in London, England. CREDIT: Jim Dyson/Getty Images
“Fucking jeez Louise. No one is answering me,” she said, once again asking for water for the crowd and insisting everyone take a step back before she continued the set. “It’s been a minute since we’ve done this…Who needs an inhaler?” she added. “I feel like I’m babysitting. Do you feel ok for me to keep going?”
The small venue was a stark contrast to the headline slots she played at Reading & Leeds Festival over the weekend.
At the Sunday set at Reading 2023, NME gave Eilish four stars for her closing set at the three-day festival, describing the performance as one that “cements [her] place as a festival legend.
“Unlike her Glastonbury headline slot in 2022, which occasionally struggled to connect with an older audience, this show is ripe for the kids in front of her: baggy Billie hoodies are the outfit of the day, after all,” it read.
“Her stage presence, once understandably shy, is now bold. Such is the presence of her performance, that even signature moves – arriving on stage through a trapdoor, asking the crowd to “scream as loud as you possibly can” – are still electrifying on a night-to-night basis.”
The post Watch Billie Eilish invite Boygenius and Labrinth on stage for intimate London gig appeared first on NME.
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