With her brother Finneas by her side, American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish performed “The 30th,” a brand-new track that she hasn’t sung live since its release.
The emotional number was introduced by the 20-year-old artist as something very personal.
“It’s out but we’ve never done it live before. Manila, please bear with me, it’s a very hard song to sing so I’m going to try my best. This song is dedicated to my dear, dear friend,” Eilish told the screaming crowd at the jampacked Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday, August 13.
The guitar song track is about an incident that happened on November 30, which was “the most indescribable thing to have to witness and experience,” she said in an interview. It talks about the aftermath of a car accident that involved someone dear to the singer.
The show was part of Eilish’s world tour for her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, released in May last year. The singer-songwriter’s first visit to the country was originally planned for 2020. She was supposed to include Manila as a pitstop for her Where Do We Go? World Tour that got canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her signature athleisure outfit – an oversized shirt, a pair of bike shorts, and running shoes – Eilish opened her show with crowd-pleaser “bury a friend” sending the entire MoA Arena into a rabid frenzy. She emerged from backstage amid the beaming lights running up and down the stage.
Throughout the night, she conducted the crowd and made them follow her every move with her only ground rule: “Don’t be an asshole and have fun.” She engaged thousands of concertgoers who trooped to the venue despite heavy rains.
Following the opening number, Eilish performed her song “I Didn’t Change My Number,” which talks about a woman who completely lost interest in her lover.
Eilish proved herself as a refined vocalist with the performance of “NDA,” and “Therefore I Am.” She performed her hits in succession bringing a plethora of new and old catalogs including “My Strange Addiction,” “idontwannabeyouanymore,” “Lovely,” “You Should See Me in a Crown,” and “Billie Bossa Nova.”
She moved across the stage dancing and pleasing the crowd with “Goldwing,” “Oxytoxin,” “Ilomilo” and “Your Power.”
She later expressed her gratitude for the presence of the thousands of local fans who, despite wearing masks, were able to send their loud cheers across the arena.
“Thank you for being so good to me. I love you so much. I only have two more songs to [perform]. I just wanted to show you my love. It’s so crazy to be on the side of the world. I adore you and I appreciate you and I hope that you had fun tonight because I did. You mean the world to me,” she said before asking the audience to do a big hug leading to her performance of “Bad Guy” and “Happier Than Ever.”
