Yahoo News Avril Lavigne review: Pop punk princess brings nostalgia-fuelled Greatest Hits Tour to Cardiff
It may be 22 years since Avril Lavigne released her first album, but you’d be none the wiser watching crowds belt out the lyrics to her once-chart topping hits at Cardiff Castle on Tuesday night. The pop-punk princess took Welsh fans on a nostalgia - and champagne - fuelled ride through two decades of music and the millennial crowd, along with a perhaps surprising amount of younger fans, lapped it up as if it were still the early 2000s.
Taking to the stage just after 9pm, the pint-sized singer said: “It’s hard not to be doing amazing when you’re out here in front of all you beautiful people and a beautiful castle. I’ve been having so much fun this summer. We’ve been on tour with The Greatest Hits Tour celebrating the last 22 years of music, and it's really crazy to be saying that, but I’m super grateful to be here tonight in front of all of you.”
The now-39-year-old delivered one banger after another, starting off with newer anthems ‘Girlfriend’ and ‘What the Hell’ before sending the crowd into a frenzy for 2002 chart-topper ‘Complicated’. Much to the excitement of the crowd, she even picked up an electric guitar and played along at times - reminding fans she’s more than just an impressive set of pipes.
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Though her teen years are now long gone, Lavigne lopes around the stage in the same way she did at 17. She doesn’t smile much, but she doesn’t need to win fans over with niceties. It’s the same crowd that grew up adoring the singer for her moody, I-do-what-I-want attitude.
She no longer wears her punk rock uniform - Converse, a pair of baggy Dickies and a neck tie - but in many ways, little has changed. Her signature colours - black and pink - were ever present, and a set of giant skulls and crossbones decorated the stage. Footage from old music videos and interviews rolled on a giant screen behind the band.
The singer took time to reconnect with fans, telling them about her “day off” in Cardiff on Monday, which included a tour of the castle. “It’s beautiful,” she told the screaming crowd. She even pulled a few lucky ticketholders on stage for selfies, and handed out autographed skateboards. In a subtle reminder that she's no longer a teenager, she confessed to fans she's been on a champagne kick, before shaking up a bottle and spraying the crowd.
More than an hour in, just as you were beginning to think the singer's Sk8er Boi days might be behind her, Lavigne launched into the award-winning single, sending the crowd wild. After a quick outfit change, she ended the night with two encores, newer-fan crowdpleaser Head Above Water and early-album classic I'm With You.
Overall, the show came in at under 20 songs, perhaps on the shorter side for a greatest hits collection. It also lacked the polish that many newer pop artists - like Taylor Swift - use to dazzle crowds. But choreographed dance routines and on-stage acting have never been what Lavigne is known for. For most, this gig was undeniably all about the nostalgia - and the self-declared princess delivered that in heaps.
