Things you may already know about Avril Lavigne: she is small and often appears rather unhappy or sour in the press; she favours a casual look of t-shirts and cargo pants, coining a new uniform for girls of a certain age; she became famous on the back of some classic pop singles about teen-girl-angst most probably written by the Matrix group and not her; she's the antithesis, or the smart-yet-shallow evolution, of your mid to late 90s female pop star, your Britneys and Jessicas and Mandys.
None of these are necessarily false.
Things I notice about Avril Lavigne within the first five minutes of watching her on stage: her small slender frame; her very blonde and straight hair; the swagger and confidence as she performs her songs, at odds with her quick spoken segues between songs; the pretty smile on her face as she performs; her great voice - husky due to a recent bout of the flu, but strong and in-tune and very clearly live.
We approached this concert with trepidation leading up to tonight, hearing about unsold seats, the hastily discounted tickets, the lack of excitement - and teenagers - around the Ent Cent as we enter the building. There's barely a respectable line for the merchandise, and, worse still, no line for the female toilets, usually a sure sign of a packed house. Poor Avril. It seems that this time around, supporting a strong, more mature second album, she's lost a fair few of the throng that filled the venue for her first tour.
Support band Town Hall Steps ("We were in Melbourne, but we come from this ****ing city!" the lead singer blurts out excitedly after a song) are a solid if not particularly interesting confusion of rock and punk. As my friend put it after the set, "The lead singer thinks he's in Incubus, the guitarist thinks he's in AC/DC, and the keyboard guy thinks he's in Muse".
After a short half-hour break, the house lights dim, and a gothic-classical theme starts up, strobe lights flashing, building an atmosphere for Avril (in a green t-shirt, a red belt, and camoflage 3/4 pants) to stride out on stage to start singing the first track of her first album. She is greeted by cheers - well, cheers from those in the seats, anyway. Those of us on the floor stare in confusion, as we see her lips moving and hear the band, but hear nothing of Avril's voice. For a moment, we think we're going to be at the worst. concert. EVER.
But after a verse and a chorus, the sound kicks in, and the crowd on the floor finally gets to legitimately cheer. The set is only an hour or so long all up, but due to the lack of stage banter, forced or otherwise, the songs move from one to the next rapidly, a great big string of hits along with a cover of American Idiot by Green Day ("My favourite band!" Avril acknowledges) right after current single He Wasn't - a brave move, considering the latter is noticeably a Green Day-lite kind of song - and some lesser known rockier songs from both albums. Avril plays guitar on several songs, accompanies herself on piano for some of the slower songs (complete with a rather anaemic chandelier above the baby grand), and in a fantastic encore, plays the drums while her band sings the Blur hit Song 2.
Losing Grip
Unwanted
My Happy Ending
Mobile
I Always Get What I Want
I'm With You
Things I'll Never Say
Who Knows
Don't Tell Me
Fall to Pieces
He Wasn't
American Idiot
Take Me Away
Forgotten
Together
Tomorrow
Nobody's Home
Sk8er Boi
Song 2
Complicated
With every song, the atmosphere went from lukewarm to happily enthusiastic. She has some of the best sing-a-long songs out there at the moment, and the concert was one nice bask in simple enjoyment in listening to a good singer happily performing without much fuss, letting the music move the crowd.
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