Review: Billie Eilish's soft side still hits hard in first of two St. Paul in-the-round shows

Like the giant, eerily luminescent cube that hung over the middle of the arena at the start of the concert Sunday night at Xcel Energy Center, many doubts lingered over whether Billie Eilish's latest tour stop could be as vibrant and ecstatic as her previous shows — which, to be fair, set the bar very high.

This is the Los Angeles bedroom-pop phenomenon's first tour without her big brother and primary collaborator Finneas in tow. It's a tour promoting a mellower, more somber and experimental record. It follows closely on the heels of an election whose results she publicly voiced being bummed out over. And it's well known most pop acts who top the charts in their teens cannot keep that momentum going into their 20s.

So could the 22-year-old singer overcome all that?

That question was answered as loudly and succinctly as the one-word refrain shouted out by 18,000 fans during "Bad Guy" midway through Sunday's set: "Duh!"

Even before "Bad Guy" arrived, Eilish created an enraptured and electric yet somehow still intimate vibe for the sold-out arena show. The first half-hour focused on songs from that quieter 2024 LP, "Hit Me Hard and Soft," making it clear this would be a softer show than her previous Xcel Energy Center gig in 2022. But it was no less intense.

The opening songs "Chihiro" and "Lunch" — both from the new (and newly Grammy-nominated) album — were set to slow-throbbing electronic grooves but were made livelier under a dazzling display of lasers and video effects.

Her in-the-round stage at the arena's center looked rather simple but actually boasted elaborate touches, such as an elevating mini-stage and video screens built within the main stage under Eilish's feet (an especially cool effect for folks in the upper level). The stage's full wow potential came to light in the hard-grinding, pyro-accompanied fourth song, "Therefore I Am," during which Eilish — dressed in baggy shorts and a Nike rugby shirt — got athletic bouncing around the stage.

As "Therefore I Am" suggested, she's a thinker, all right. A sign of just how clever a performer she can be, she turned one of the night's most hushed and sad songs into one of the show's giddiest highlights by sitting cross-legged at center stage and asking the crowd to go quiet.

"The only time I'm going to ask for silence," she said, and then proceeded to hum out different melodies that she looped on top of one another to set up "When the Party's Over." Fans who kept their lips tightly zipped at the start of the tune sounded louder than ever once they had the all clear to sing along.

Other fun stage antics included Eilish running around with a handheld camera during "Bad Guy" and hanging off the small elevated stage as it lifted overhead in "The Greatest."

All of these nifty stage gimmicks didn't distract from Eilish's natural music talent. Her deceptively hushed but actually quite dramatic and billowy voice came through loud and clear all night, with very little of the "enhanced" (recorded) vocal backing heard at many other pop shows of the day.

Her backup singers — performing alongside her band in lowered pits set within the long stage — were barely even noticeable until they walked up to join her in an acoustic version of "Your Power." A song about sexual harassment and abuse, it prompted Eilish to speak up about the election.

"It's been a very tough week, and I think we all know why," she said. "If you've ever been taken advantage of in that way, I hear you and feel you and would hope that person wouldn't become president."

Eilish proceeded to play two more stripped-down ballads on acoustic guitar that hit just as hard and showcased her songwriting talent on top of her singing abilities: "Skinny," a new one about body image issues, and "TV," an older fan fave about balancing old friends with new romantic interests. Hearing an arena full of adolescents with similar struggles passionately sing out these songs was as powerful as this or any other concert gets.

Not surprisingly, the emotional level hit a high point again near show's end when Eilish got to her megahit from the "Barbie" movie, "What Was I Made For?" The Oscar-winning ballad made for an ultra-swooning, goosebump-y moment in its first local performance as Eilish sat on the edge of the stage to sing it.

She picked herself and the tempo back up to end with her newest chart-topper, "Birds of a Feather," her most straight-ahead, accessible, hookworm-y hit to date. In the end, there was nothing too clever in the case of either of those songs — just beautiful pop-music bliss.