Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager Defend Billie Eilish Amid Controversial 3-Hour Concert Debate

Hoda Kotb and Jenna Bush Hager weighed in on the great concert debate about whether or not artists should perform for three hours or more.

Hoda, 59, and Jenna, 42, discussed the topic on Today With Hoda & Jenna on Tuesday, May 28, after Billie Eilish told her fans that she refused to do a three-hour show.

“I’m not doing a three-hour show,” Billie, 22, said during a recent Stationhead app Q&A. “Nobody wants that. You guys don’t want that. I don’t want that. I don’t even want that as a fan. My favorite artist in the world, I’m not trying to hear them for three hours.”

Hoda agreed with Billie, sharing that she is not a fan of waiting around to hear an artist’s best songs.

“I kind of think a three-hour concert is a long time. … ‘Cause usually, they save the really great [songs] for the end,” the longtime broadcaster said. “And you’re like, ‘Ugh,’ ‘cause sometimes it’s like there’s some good ones and some not, and then you’re waiting, waiting, waiting for the big one at the end.”

Jenna concurred with her colleague, adding, “three hours in a very long time to do just about anything.” However, the former first daughter attended Taylor Swift’s Eras tour last year with her daughters, Mila and Poppy, whom she shares with husband Henry Hager.

“It was so much fun,” she told Today viewers in May 2023. “We listened to the playlist [before] so the girls could sing almost every word. … We danced like crazy. It was Poppy’s first concert. … We stayed ’til the end, they were totally enjoying it.”

Jenna admitted she was “sore” after the concert but had a blast.

“I’m not even Taylor, I didn’t do anything, and I was like, ‘How does she do this?’” she reflected during Tuesday’s broadcast. “When you think about what she does, it is amazing.”

Hoda went to the Eras tour in May 2023 with her pals, snapping selfies on Instagram of the night’s festivities. The Hope Is a Rainbow author later revealed that her daughters, Haley and Hope, are also huge fans of Taylor and have loved watching her concert film.

“The kids are really hooked — there’s something … about Taylor … I had my kids doing some stuff and … they go, ‘Can we just have the Taylor concert on … while we’re doing stuff?’ … They were mesmerized … they were singing along and dancing and doing things, focused,” Hoda told Today viewers in April.