Billie Eilish talks “shredding on the guitar” and performing with a full band for the first time on her Hit Me Hard And Soft tour

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft tour has been one of the eagerly anticipated of the year, and it finally kicked off in Quebec at the end of September. Now, as the tour gathers momentum across the US, Eilish is taking you behind the scenes.

Shadowed by Vogue as she prepares to hit the stage at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Canada, Eilish says that this is a “very different tour” to any that she’s done in the past, “for a lot of reasons”.

For one thing, these shows are being performed in the round, with the audience surrounding the stage, and the personnel has changed, too.

“I have a full band, which I’ve never had - it’s always just been me and my brother,” says Eilish. What’s more, this marks the first time that the “grown-up” star hasn’t had her parents out on the road with her.

Discussing the buzz she’s getting from performing her new material, Eilish says: “It’s always exciting to play stuff that I’ve never played live for the first time. And, like, feel people’s reactions and how people feel. And I just get this giant ‘whoosh’ of everybody’s energy”.

What’s more, Eilish has been expanding her own musical horizons : “I’ve been shredding on the guitar for Happier Than Ever lately,” she says. “Which has been nice.”

Discussing the reaction to some of the other songs she’s debuting from the Hit Me Hard And Soft album , Eilish says: “The Greatest is amazing. That’s a really special moment for the show for me. You know that song is not really, like, in the mainstream world from that album, and so honestly, I’ve been really surprised and so ecstatic about how the fans really, really… Like, they just are screaming the lyrics for the entire thing and it’s just so special to me.

“Imagine writing something that meant so much to you and then an entire arena of people is, like, shouting it back at you. It’s amazing.”

Elsewhere in the video, we see Eilish soundchecking alone at a Nord keyboard, and there’s a clip of show-closer Birds Of A Feather. “It’s a nice little finale and there’s confetti and it’s just like a sweet moment,” she says.

All told, Eilish is starting to look and sound like a seasoned pro, but it seems that one thing she hasn’t quite mastered yet is the traditional ‘hands-in’ pre-show chant. Having not had a band before, she struggled to think of anything to say other than “another show” - not the most inspiring call to arms.

Still, it seems to have stuck, and if she wants to come up with something a little more iconic, Eilish has plenty of time: the Hit Me Hard And Soft tour is on the road until the end of July 2025.