The ‘Birds Of A Feather’ singer argued concert-goers can record the music on devices and dance to it at the same time.
The singer-songwriter’s words come after similar criticism emerged following Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna’s performance together at Coachella last month. In footage that went viral within minutes, hundreds of festivalgoers could be seen standing stock still during ‘Like A Prayer’. A significant backlash emerged on social media and Consequence published an op-ed headlined: “Not a Soul Was Dancing to Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna at Coachella”.
In Eilish’s new concert film with legendary director James Cameron, however, a majority of the young, largely female attendees at the show can be seen jumping around to her biggest hits as well as filming the action on their devices.
“When I was young and would go to concerts or festivals, I would film every single minute of it – and then I would watch every single video that I took over and over until I even had the audio of the crowd memorised,” she said. “I think that’s not to be pooh-poohed. An important part of the culture is that we are all on our goddamn phones! It keeps us connected. It does!”
Fans attending screenings of Billie Eilish’s new concert film are dancing in cinemas after she urged them sing, scream and not sit still. (NME report)
The film, titled Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), is directed by James Cameron as well as the ‘Bad Guy’ singer, and is set to hit cinemas on May 8.
Speaking to Capital at the London premiere of the film, Eilish outlined her ideal cinema etiquette, urging fans to soak in the immersive elements and act as though it were a concert. “I want singing along, I want screaming, I want standing up, I want running around,” she said. “I’m sorry to the theatres.”
Billie Eilish fans go full concert mode in early access movie screenings. pic.twitter.com/tqS5oyfpYD
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) April 30, 2026
Several clips circulating on social media show fans at early showings gathered by the screen and dutifully dancing along to the concert film, with many brandishing their phone flashlights as they would at a gig.
— Cinesque (@cinesquetv) May 1, 2026
She explained that she was excited to see her fans react like that because she’s seen them do it after screening albums in theatres. “My favourite part of that was, I would see these videos, they would all go to the front – you know, in movie theatres they have that front area? And they would just mosh and like jump around and run around.”
