Billie Eilish first announced her “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: the Tour” in April 2024, shortly before she released her album. Originally, the tour was scheduled to end in Aug. 2025, but because of very high demand for tickets, she announced that she would extend her tour. When we heard this, we knew we had to attend. It wasn’t easy, but as the dates of the shows approached and people began to sell their tickets, we were finally able to purchase resale tickets for opening night.
When Eilish arrived in Miami in early October, traffic flooded Brickell, as all her fans, including us, walked toward Kaseya in eager anticipation. The arena, which has a 19,600 person capacity, was completely sold out. As the show began, it filled with echoes of the crowd’s cheers. The show progressed and fluctuated between moments of loud screaming, especially during Eilish’s more popular songs such as “bad guy,” “ Therefore I Am,” and “Guess,” and her profound speeches regarding the political chaos of the world, which we enjoyed just as much as the songs. We both love how Eilish has used her platform to raise awareness of horrific events that have been occurring nationally and globally.
Following a rather calm performance of her single “everything i wanted” on her stage B, the crowd cheered as she came toward them. She walked to the barricade and high-fived all those who were within arm’s reach. Then, one uncontrollable fan slammed Eilish against the barricade. The crowd screamed, and the music abruptly stopped. Because we were located near the nosebleeds, we had a broad view of everything that was happening. We were taken aback by this violent interaction and waited to see how Eilish would react. However, she seemed unfazed, only glaring back with a look of disgust. Much to our surprise, she continued to interact with the crowd as she ran back to the main stage while an interlude of her song “BLUE” played in the background.
Despite this traumatic experience, Eilish continued her show, running through the crowd again at the end while she gave a nostalgic performance of “Ocean Eyes,” which was breathtaking. Then, it was incredible to hear her guitar solo during “Happier Than Ever”–this was one of our favorite moments of the show. Fittingly, Eilish closed the concert with her hit “Birds of a Feather.” The crowd cheered and screamed while she sang “don’t want to say goodbye” as confetti filled the arena.
Even though the rest of the show following the incident was incredible, we wondered if Eilish would continue to perform her next two shows on the 11th and 12th. In the end, she not only performed on both nights but also ran through the crowd, high-fiving fans without facing aggression this time. In fact, Drennen (Wester ’27) was able to return to see Eilish on the closing nights of the Miami shows. During this performance, Eilish finally mentioned the incident: “Miami has been some of my favorite crowds…aside from that one guy,” she said. This led to an eruption of both boos and laughs throughout the arena.
Despite the violent fan interaction, the concert was truly an experience of a lifetime. Some of our favorite moments included the “when the party’s over” silent loop, her performance of “TV,” and her deep speech before singing “Your Power.” We are looking forward to watching her tour movie “Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)” this coming March to relive this life-changing experience. Eilish’s “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” tour was a global phenomenon and an amazing experience for us, and we are excited to see what Eilish will do next in her unprecedented and successful career.
