"Hold your cellphones up high, let's light this bitch up," Avril said to the Vancouver crowd that filled the Rogers Arena in British Columbia.
Besides being stereotypically friendly, these Canadians did it because their hearts had been broken on Monday night when the Edmonton Oilers beat their Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the playoffs to advance to Western Conference final.
They needed a night of singing the hits from one of Canada's most beloved locals.
It's been more than two decades since Avril broke out with her 2002 debut Let Go, that gave us "Complicated," "I'm With You," and the iconic "Sk8er Boi."
The album would sell 16 million copies around the world, more than any other Canadian LP in the 21st century. Not bad for an 18-year-old.
By her third album, she demanded to be our girlfriend, which is the hit she starts the show with.
The Libra turns 40 in late September and yet doesn't look that much different than when The Best Damn Thing came out in 2007.
Is the secret to eternal youth to be married to the guy from Sum-41 and then the guy from Nickelback? Here's to never growing up.
Avril delivers what she advertised. These are her hits, though impressively, no album is represented with more than three songs.
But to throw a little spice in the set, she had All Time Low come out to do a song they wrote and recorded together last year, "Fake As Hell."
It was just the third time Avril and ATL have performed the song together live.
The band's played it 40+ times on the road, but the only other instances where Avril did it with them was last year in Vegas: once during a small event she headlined, and then the next day during ATL's set at When We Were Young.
You might ask yourself, ok she looks great, but can she still sing?
"When You're Gone" from Best Damn Thing is a mighty good litmus test for range, and yes, the Pop Rock Princess has still got it.
This tour is a way of Avril acknowledging that she's had a mighty good career so far. And she says the proof is in the setlist.
“I remember, like, on my first album, making my setlist, being like, ‘I want to be like Green Day, where they just play, like, all hits, all singles,'” she told NBC News.
Speaking of the Green Day, she told NBC she wants to do some covers of their tunes on this tour, as well as "Breakaway," which she wrote for Kelly Clarkson which went #1 on a few charts.
Avril has a half dozen dates scheduled here in North America before she hops over to Europe to spread that Canadian sunshine to the Euros. She returns to this side of the globe in August to hit some more cities.
Get your tickets on her website.
Avril Lavigne 2024 Tour Dates:
05/22 — Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena ^
05/25 — Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre ^
05/26 — Ridgefield, WA @ RV Inn Style Resorts Amphitheater ^
05/28 — Mountain View, CA @ Shoreline Amphitheatre ^
05/30 — Inglewood, CA @ Kia Forum ^
06/01 — Las Vegas, NV @ MGM Grand Garden Arena ^
06/02 — Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre ^
06/14 – Hradec, CZ @ Rock For People
06/15 – Nickelsdorf, AT @ Novarock
06/17 – Pula, HR @ Pula Arena
06/21 – Landgraaf, NL @ Pinkpop
06/22 – Schnee, DE @ Hurricane Festival
06/23 – Neuhausen Ob Eck, DE @ Southside Festival
06/27 – Odense, DK @ Tinderbox
07/02 – Cardiff, UK @ Cardiff Castle
07/03 – Manchester, UK @ Castlefield Bowl
07/06 – Werchter, BE @ Rock Werchter
07/09 – Milano, IT @ I-Days Festival
07/10 – Nîmes, FR @ Festival de Nîmes
07/12 – Sant Adrià De Besòs, ES @ Festival Cruïlla
07/13 – Madrid, ES @ Mad Cool Festival
08/12 – Toronto, ON @ Scotiabank Arena +
08/14 — Ottawa, ON @ Canadian Tire Centre +
08/16 — Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage +
08/17 — Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC @ Festival International de Montgolfières
08/20 — Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater +
08/21 — Hartford, CT @ The XFINITY Theatre +
08/23 — Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center +
08/24 — Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center +
08/27 — Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater +
08/29 — Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion +
08/31 — Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live +
09/01 — Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion +
09/03 — Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre +
09/04 — Nashville, TN @ Ascend Amphitheater +
09/06 — Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center +
09/07 — Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Theatre +
09/09 — Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Insurance Amphitheater +
09/10 — Chicago, IL @ Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island +
09/12 — Minneapolis, MN @ The Armory +
09/14 — Winnipeg, MB @ Canada Life Centre +
09/16 — Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place
09/18 – Calgary, AB @ Scotiabank Saddledome
^ = w/ All Time Low and Royal & The Serpent
+ = w/ Simple Plan and Girlfriends
