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Just last year, a young, promising, yet little known pop vocalist by the name of Billie Eilish was performing in front of a few hundred people at the intimate Great American Music Hall in San Francisco.
And no one could have realistically predicted just how quickly she’d realize that promise. Her excellent debut — “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” — is reportedly the most-streamed album of the year. Her single “Bad Guy” is everywhere and her upcoming arena tour — which plays Chase Center in San Francisco on April 7 and the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento on April 8 — looks to be one of the top tickets of 2020.
And everybody knows her name.
That’s especially true of the people at Apple Music, who just named Eilish the “global artist of the year” at the inaugural Apple Music Awards. The singer completely dominated the affair, taking home three of the five trophies handed out. Her debut — which collected over a billion streams on Apple Music alone — won for album of the year, while she shared the honors for songwriter of the year with her brother Finneas.
She celebrated the victories with a terrific acoustic performance for roughly 1,000 listeners on Wednesday (Dec. 4) at the Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino. The show was free, but fans had to win tickets to attend.
It was a strange evening, in that the whole award show element never really factored into the occasion. Yet, it didn’t really feel like a regular concert either. It was more of an awkward, somewhat strategic marketing event, where Eilish and Apple scratched each other’s backs on the way to making more money for both.
And it appears Apple is willing to spend a lot more money where Eilish is concerned. Reports Thursday said Apple TV + is nearing a deal to acquire a new documentary about the singer filmed by R.J. Cutler (“The War Room”) for $25 million.
Wednesday’s concert felt very sterile, offering up an experience more suitable for a control group than a concert crowd. The setting was downright intimidating, as one entered through the heavily monitored gates into the mammoth corporate park, with a seemingly endless amount of security and green-beanie-wearing Apple folks checking on your whereabouts. I didn’t even get up to use the restroom during the show, for fear of getting tasered.
OK, I’m joking there (kind of). But the point is this show would’ve probably been much more enjoyable if it had been at a some regular concert venue like the Fox Theater in Oakland or the Fillmore in San Francisco.
And, for what it’s worth, Eilish needs to work on her Bay Area geography (even if she is from L.A.)
“You guys all live here?” she asked the crowd, of which roughly 900 were fans who won tickets. “You live in San Fran?”
It was basically the only misstep Eilish would make all night, as she and her brother teamed up for an incredible hour of acoustic music.
Opening with the memorable “Ocean Eyes,” from the 2017 debut EP “Don’t Smile at Me,” Eilish carefully, confidently waltzed through one terrific track after another in this stripped-down acoustic setting.
“I wish I could give you guys an actual show,” the singer remarked. “But here we are.”
Fans can catch Eilish’s “actual show” at her April Bay Area gigs. Yet, I found it fascinating — and quite enlightening — to hear her do an acoustic show.
For one thing, it provided for a much stronger spotlight on the lyrics than one gets, say, when “Bad Guy” is being bumped ad nauseam on top 40 radio. And the lyrics definitely hold up under closer scrutiny, offering up clever, cool commentary with a strong, clear voice.
Eilish and Finneas — who played both guitar and piano — closed the show by running through some of the best offerings of the night, including “I Love You,” “Everything I Wanted” and, appropriately enough, “When the Party’s Over.”
“I am so blessed to have you guys in my life,” she told her fans.
Eilish, as noted earlier, won three of the five Apple Music Awards. The other two went to Lizzo, for breakthrough artist of the year, and Lil Nas X’s, whose “Old Town Road” won for song of the year.
And both of those artists happen to be in the Bay Area this week — Lizzo appears at Poptopia at SAP Center in San Jose and Lil Nas X is part of Jingle Ball 2019 at the Masonic in San Francisco — which led to speculation that they might show up at the Apple event. Yet, that turned out to just be wishful thinking.
Fans who missed Eilish’s performance can watch the show on Apple Music.
Here are my concert picks for the week https://t.co/QAMsffzg7I
— Jim Harrington (@jimthecritic) December 5, 2019
