Music/Live Reviews

Who: Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan
Where: Scotiabank Arena, Toronto
When: Mon., Aug. 12, 2024
Vibe: A superstar lacks her shine
Highlight: Thousands of fans singing along to the song that started it all — Sk8er Boi
Next: U.S. and Canada tour dates including Aug. 16 at Budweiser Stage in Toronto, Sept. 18 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary
Rating: NN (out of 5)

It feels fitting to return to Scotiabank Arena to see Avril Lavigne’s Greatest Hits tour, the same venue for The Best Damn Tour — the very first concert I attended. I remember having the time of my life in 2008, singing along to all my favourite songs and bragging to all my friends the next day at school. Back to the present day, the crowd at the Greatest Hits tour is a mix of “elder emos” who grew up listening to Avril’s music, millennials with pink streaks in their hair or wearing a plaid skirt and their boyfriend’s tie, young parents bringing their kids, and pre-teen girls — perhaps at their first concert.

Simple Plan is the perfect choice for a support act on this tour, whose career took off around the same time as Avril’s. They know that the fans are here to see them perform the hits, and their ego doesn’t get in the way of delivering favourites that they’ve played hundreds of times before, including I’m Just a Kid and Welcome to My Life — though, confusingly, they include a few greatest hits from other artists in their set like Mr. Brightside, Stacy’s Mom and All Star. Simple Plan bring out a number of guests, with Toronto indie pop singer LØLØ performing Jet Lag with them, and a few Scooby-Doos to dance on stage when they play What’s New, Scooby-Doo?

When Avril Lavigne takes the stage singing Girlfriend, her energy doesn’t match the crowd’s fervour or the song’s sass. Everyone is screaming with excitement at seeing one of their idols perform, but Avril remains completely cool, moving here and there on stage with limp enthusiasm as she weakly punches the air as she sings “Hey, hey!” The rest of the set continues with disappointingly low energy. Avril appears genuine when she thanks the crowd for supporting her dream, but she also rambles on during some awkward moments, like when she asks the crowd to cheer for their preferred type of alcohol, then messes up when she sings the intro of Here’s to Never Growing Up. Sk8er Boi and Complicated easily gets the crowd animated, and the energy also picks up when she brings out Simple Plan to perform their song Addicted together.

Avril wears a loose baseball jersey throughout the show and mysteriously disappears off stage for several minutes at a time, returning after each long interval without a costume change. Only for the encore does she finally emerge in a flowy white hooded dress that satisfies everyone’s expectations.

Video montages play during the breaks between songs, recapping Avril’s career accolades in the 2000s. It’s supposed to feel like a victory lap celebrating her decades-long career; instead, it seems like a retirement party. Her status as Canada’s motherfucking princess will always be legendary, though she shines less than she used to.