Billie Eilish brought the house down in Phoenix

On the way to Mortgage Matchup Center last night, I passed by a row of tents. They belonged to fans who were camping out to be on the rail for tonight’s show. They had already been there for hours.

Thus is the power of Billie Eilish.

Eilish’s year-long, globe-crossing Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour is wrapping up in just a few days, and the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist is finishing strong.

After a short but powerful set by the luminous Lucy Dacus, the supporting act only at the Phoenix shows, Eilish started promptly at 8:15.

She emerged out of a giant hanging cube in the middle of the stage amid ear-piercing screams from the largely young, female crowd, kicking the show off with “CHIHIRO” off her latest album, 2024’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft.”

The stage setup — imagine a square 8, like on a digital clock, in the center of the venue — allowed the singer plenty of room to gallop around and get closer to different sections of the audience.

What followed was a tight 100-minute set that alternated between high energy and high emotion.

• “when the party’s over”: The crowd went silent so Eilish could perform what has become one of the most anticipated parts of the show. She sat in the center of the stage, live-looping her vocals to create the beautiful harmony that opens the song. 
• “bad guy”: Eilish’s first song to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 was a first-act showstopper. Red lighting and red lasers added a powerful darkness to Eilish’s rendition, which she performed with a camera in hand, filming the crowd and her band for a star’s-eye view of the action.
• “TV”: The middle of the show, an acoustic portion with Eilish and her backup singers seated in the center of the stage, showed off Eilish’s guitar chops. “This is a good time to sit down,” she told the crowd, who promptly obeyed. “TV,” Eilish’s weary, heartbroken ballad, brought at least one fan around me to tears. 
• “Guess”: After the gentler, more emotional acoustic set, Eilish cranked the energy to 11 with “Guess,” her sexy, thumping collab with Charli XCX. The music video played on the screens for Charli’s portion before Eilish took over vocals for her second verse. The room filled with bright green light and lasers, perhaps a nod to Charli’s now-iconic “Brat” hue.
• “ocean eyes”: Part of a medley that Eilish performed on the keyboard, “ocean eyes” celebrated a milestone last night: It was released on SoundCloud on November 18, 2015. In response, thousands of fans held up pieces of paper that read “HAPPY BIRTHDAY OCEAN EYES.”
• “What Was I Made For?”: Eilish earned her second Academy Award last year for this song from the “Barbie” soundtrack. She sang this one at the edge of the stage, her breathy vocals filling the room. (The beginning of this song was the point in her December 13, 2024, show at Desert Diamond Arena when a fan threw a bracelet to Eilish and hit her in the face; this time, we got through the song with no incidents.)
• “BIRDS OF A FEATHER”: Eilish closed the show with “BIRDS OF A FEATHER,” the fastest song to hit 3 billion streams on Spotify. As the confetti fell and the lights came up, girls around me cried and hugged. 

Just as powerful as Eilish’s voice (which does, indeed, hit both hard and soft) is her ability to project emotion and connect with fans. A coy smirk on “bad guy,” a pleading look on “TV” — whether it’s genuine or just damn good acting-while-singing, it comes off as authentic.

Eilish took a few moments to reflect on the tour, which, despite getting extra dates along the way, is truly coming to an end.

“I feel so, so proud of this tour and this show,” she said. “And I feel so grateful … to do this show every night and to get to spend this time with you. … Thank you for making it possible. I will miss it so much, and I will think so fondly of these memories. I will cherish them.”

I walked back past the campers after the show, some of whom were sitting outside their tents, watching the crowd file out of the arena, waiting their turn to see their idol.

“It was the best night ever,” one fan told them.