Billie Eilish praised as she stops concert to give fan inhaler
"I wait for people to be okay until I keep going," she told the crowd
Billie Eilish has been praised for stopping her concert in Atlanta on Saturday (February 5) to assist an audience member who was having breathing difficulties.
The singer, who last week embarked on her ‘Happier Than Ever’ world tour, noticed a fan looking distressed during the show. “Do you need an inhaler? Who needs it?”, she asked pointing into the crowd (via NBC).
She then asked her stage crew: “Do we have an inhaler? Can we just grab one?”
A few moments later she said: “It’s okay, you got one. Guys, give it some time. Don’t crowd.
“We’re taking care of our people, hold on. I wait for people to be okay until I keep going,” she continued, met by cheers from the crowd.
The concert was the second stop on the tour, kicking off in New Orleans on Thursday (February 3), which Rolling Stone described as a “superstar-level performance full of fun, vivid looks, and emotional gut punches”.
The responsibility on artists to look out for audience members has been particularly apparent following the tragedy at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival last year which saw 10 people die from compression asphyxia after a crowd surge.
The rapper has been named in almost 2,800 lawsuits seeking restitution for those injured at the festival in his hometown of Houston, Texas.
Scott spoke with Charlamagne Tha God in an interview posted on YouTube in December 9, saying only that he had a “responsibility to figure out what happened” when asked if he felt culpable for the disaster.
Billie Eilish will be continuing on her US tour until April, before she embarks on a UK and European tour in June.
She is also set to perform at Glastonbury in June, making her the youngest ever solo headliner.
“We are very excited to confirm that @billieeilish will headline the Pyramid Stage on the Friday night at Glastonbury 2022, to become the Festival’s youngest ever solo headliner. This will be her first UK festival headline performance,” wrote Glastonbury organisers.