After five years of not returning to Florida for a tour, Billie Eilish announced her second leg of the Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour, featuring three stops in Miami and one in Orlando. This surprised many Florida fans, sparking immense excitement in the fandom. Eilish is known to have a very passionate fan base, as demonstrated by fans camping outside days in advance for her concerts to secure the best spot possible in the general admission pit. While the excessive lengths her fans go to are often harmless, that wasn’t the case during her first show back on the road in Miami on Oct. 9.
Like many artists, Eilish gets personal with the crowd every night by doing a barricade run in the middle of her show, pacing and high-fiving fans during her song “everything i wanted,” with no issues. Most fans respect Eilish by reaching out their hands in hopes of high-fiving their favorite artist. It is ultimately one of the most anticipated moments throughout the show for fans who are spread across the perimeter of the barricade.
The Miami show incident
Night one of the Miami show was the complete opposite, however. Instead of it being the intended intimate moment between fans and Eilish, a man in the crowd had different intentions. While doing the normal barricade run, the man unexpectedly yanks Eilish straight into the barricade by her hand, pulling her forcefully with a tight grip. Security had to pull the man off Eilish, quickly pushing him to the ground.
Red bandana girl
After the moment circulated online, fans noticed one girl in particular who proved her love for Eilish that night. Right after the man was pushed to the floor towards the back of the pit by the security guards, a fan in a red bandana removed herself from the barricade to give him a word, following him to the back of the general admission area. Although it’s unknown exactly what was said by this girl to the man, it is clear that she was defending Eilish and shaming his actions.
The love for Aniyah
After multiple videos went viral across all social media platforms, the praise for this fan grew, ultimately leading the internet to find her personal TikTok account. Aniyah (aka red bandana girl) expresses her shock at the love and support she has received over the past couple of days through a TikTok. Before the day of the show, on Oct. 8, Aniyah had 60 TikTok followers. As of Oct. 14, she now has 626.8K followers and 2.6M likes.
Not only is the fandom expressing gratitude and love for Aniyah, but singer-songwriter Finneas also did the same by posting an Instagram story praising the fan who defended his sister, stating, “Red bandana girl from last night’s show rules.”
However, the love for Aniyah doesn’t stop there, as the ticket-selling app, StubHub, sent her to the third night in Miami for free to show their appreciation. They commented on one of her videos, saying, “our hero deserves another night at barricade, so we got her tickets and are sending her back!! Thank you, Aniyah for stepping up with no hesitation @aniyahyanelly.” After 12 hours of camping on night one, only to give up her spot behind the barricade to defend Eilish, Aniyah got another shot to fully experience the show! While camping for her second show, fans surround Aniyah with love, while treating her like a celebrity by asking for her autograph, taking pictures with her, and conversing with her about her experience.
During the show, Eilish makes her way down to the floor to do her barricade run; however, this time, there is no violent fan. With fear of being pulled again, it was made clear from the look on her face that she is, from now on, cautious of getting too close to fans when doing the run. However, when seeing Aniyah, Eilish immediately recognizes her and gives her a big smile.
The aftermath
Eilish is ultimately taking the horrible incident lightheartedly, as shown in her speech talking about Miami during her third night of tour, stating, “I love you so much. I gotta be real, this is, Miami has been some of my favorite crowds I’ve had on this tour. Besides that one guy.” Eilish immediately bursts out laughing, along with the crowd, cheering with applause and screaming. She then says, “No, no, no, no. No, no, no, it’s okay, it’s okay, don’t worry, I’m totally fine.”
After this show, Aniyah answered the fans’ curiosity about whether Eilish had reached out to her about the incident by posting an Instagram story. She takes a picture of the merchandise items Eilish had sent to her with the caption “thank you so much for the gifts billie!!! @billieeilish.”
The traumatic experience Eilish faced that day will be a reminder to fans everywhere to respect their favorite artists because, although it may not seem like it, they are real people, too. Luckily, Eilish is someone who uses humor to lighten up a situation, but that is not always the case. As for Aniyah, she continues to use her newfound platform for good by promoting her non-profit organization called “packedwithpasion.” This horrific situation was turned around by someone like Aniyah, who chose not to be a bystander but instead stood up for those she loves.