Billie Eilish sings whopping 28 songs at Michigan concert, conducts fans like a maestro

DETROIT - This was probably the hardest ticket to come by so far in 2022 in Michigan. Seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, Billie Eilish, brought her “Happier Than Ever, The World Tour” to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Saturday, March 12, 2022. There wasn’t an empty seat in the house or spot to be found in the GA floor area.

The 20-year old conducted the crowd of around 14,000 people like a veteran maestro and fans were happy to oblige to her every command by singing along, chanting, jumping around and simply having a good time, just as Eilish wished of them.

“There’s two rules tonight,” Eilish told the crowd early on. “The first one: Don’t you dare judge anybody in here. Number two: Have fun! I’m serious! If you don’t allow yourself to be free and have fun right now, it’s going to be a drag. So, can we all just move around, flop yourself around, get loose? Don’t be embarrassed. I just want us all to lose it. It’s so cold outside. We’re so warm in here.”

Eilish’s setup consisted of a huge stage with walkway out into the crowd. Behind her was a large screen and two musicians, drummer Andrew Marshall and her brother, singer/songwriter and producer, Finneas, who played guitar, bass and piano on various songs.

While the lighting and music were both a little dark, Eilish was a bright light of energy, hopping all over the stage with a big smile on her face, despite it being a frigid night in the “D” with temperatures around 15 degrees in Mid-March.

“It is so good to see you guys again, I can’t even tell you. How am I doing? I’m good. I’m so f-ing happy! Detroit! Hey man, it’s f-ing super cold outside.”

Eilish’s concert lighting was a little different than most shows. The spotlight was behind her and was almost never white. She was dimly lit with various colors like red, orange, purple and green.

The large screen behind her added to each song with various images and videos showing things like spiders, ballroom dancers, exploring the bottom of an ocean, home videos of her as a baby and toddler and “007,” himself, James Bond appeared while she performed the theme to “No Time To Die.”

The pacing of the concert was fast as Eilish breezed through song after song by performing parts of many of them, which is how she got through 28 of them in around an hour and 45 minutes. She also played guitar while performing some songs acoustically.

At one point, she ran to the other side of the arena and hovered over the crowd on a platform attached to a large crane which brought her very close to a lot of people in the back of the audience.

The theme of the night was conservation. A video before the show featured her mother and her nonprofit, Support and Feed, which encourages people to eat one plant-based meal a day for 30 days to help lower their carbon footprint. Eilish also showed videos of pollution, oil spills and natural disasters during one song while encouraging fans to make a difference.

“We need to take better care of our planet. We need to take better care of our people. We need to stand for each other and stand with each other. I love you guys so much and I stand with you and I stand for you with all that you are and I love you so much. Thank you so much for coming and being here and waiting outside in the freezing cold.”

SETLIST:

1. “Bury a Friend”
2. “I Didn’t Change My Number”
3. “NDA”
4. “Therefore I Am”
5. “My Strange Addiction”
6. “idontwannabeyouanymore”
7. “Lovely”
8. “You Should See Me In A Crown”
9. “Billie Bossa Nova”
10. “GOLDWING”
11. “Halley’s Comet”
12. “No Time To Die”
13. “Oxytocin”
14. “ilomilo”
15. “I Love You”
16. “Your Power”
17. “Male Fantasy”
18. “OverHeated”
19. “Bellyache”
20. “Ocean Eyes”
21. “Bored”
22. “Getting Older”
23. “Lost Cause”
24. “When the Party’s Over”
25. “All The Good Girls Go to Hell”
26. “Everything I Wanted”
27. “Bad Guy”
28. “Happier Than Ever”

All of Pine Knob’s 2022 scheduled concerts for its 50th anniversary season