Billie Eilish kicks off her tour and makes the switch to electric guitar with a Fender American Professional II Tele

Billie Eilish kicked off her Hit Me Hard And Soft tour in Quebec last night (29 September) and used an anthemic performance of Happier Than Ever to debut her new electric guitar : a Fender American Pro II Telecaster in Dark Night finish.

The performance above of an edited version of the title track from Eilish's 2021 second album prompted a huge singalong in the Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City, and saw the singer-songwriter playing rhythm duties on the track.

Eilish playing a six-string during her live sets is nothing new to fans – but this tends to happen during acoustic guitar segments of the show with her and brother/collaborator Finneas O'Connell , sat down. Last night's stripped-down performances of Male Fantasy, Skinny and TV were Finneas-free, though.

O'Connell did not perform at the show and will be missing some later dates due to scheduling conflicts with his own solo tour in support for second solo album, For Cryin' Out Loud!

He recently explained to Guitar World why he encourages his sister to play guitar in the studio. “I always try to get her to play as much as she’s willing to on our records because, even though she feels like she’s less experienced, I really like her sensibilities,” he said. O'Connell recently released two Acoustasonic signature guitars with Fender.

The 26-song setlist in Quebec saw the live debut of a clutch of songs from her third album, including Blue, The Diner and Chihiro.

Find out more about the Fender Pro II Telecaster in Dark Night at Fender .

• Finneas on why he’s given Billie Eilish “the bare minimum of stuff” in her new recording studio