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FORGET ABOUT TAKIN’ IT TO THE STREETS.
AVRIL LAVIGNE IS TAKING HER NEW SONGS TO THE MALLS.
BY KAREN BLISS PHOTO BY ROB DUTCHIN
The "Avril!" chants began long before she did. Fans
started lining up for a prime spot in Fairview Mall’s centre court
hours before the Canadian rock star arrived for the Toronto stop of
her recent tour of North American malls. The 21-city tour, an opportunity
to test out songs from her forthcoming album, Under My Skin (out
May 25), kicked off in Milwaukee on March 5 and ran through mid-April.
By all indications, Lavigne, 19, is getting a reassuring
response. "I like whatever she does," says Melissa McBride,
18, pressed against the front row barrier. She could care less if Lavigne’s
new album is more rock or pop than her debut, 2002's Let Go,
which sold a whopping 14 million copies worldwide. But what if it sounds
like Celine Dion? "No!," she laughs, drawing the line.
Melissa, and her sister Melissa, 15, came in from
Newmarket, Ontario at noon and waited outside with about 150 others
until 3:45 p.m. before security escorted them inside in groups of 10.
By the time Lavigne took the stage at 5:30 p.m., an estimated 4000 people
had gathered on both levels of the mall court. Many came with signs,
photos, posters – and high-pitched squeals.
Lavigne, dressed in a black tank top, black cargo
pants with tartan suspenders, buckles and straps, sat on a stool playing
acoustic guitar. Guitarist Evan Taubenfeld sat alongside. "We’ve
played this mall before," he said, referring to an autograph session
and performance back when Let Go first came out.
The pair previewed five new songs: ‘He Wasn’t’,
‘My Happy Ending’, ‘Take Me Away’, ‘Nobody’s
Home’ and new single ‘Don’t Tell Me’, in addition
to past hits ‘Sk8er Boi’ and ‘Complicated’. Their
harmonies were spot on and every song worked acoustically.
‘My Happy Ending’ almost had a gospel tinge
and Lavigne’s voice sounded crystalline. The crowd went nuts for
‘Sk8er Boi’, with tiny bobbing heads and an increased shrill
factor as even the youngest kids sang along to every word. Lavigne dedicated
‘Don’t Tell Me’ – with its line "did you think
that I was gonna give it up to you?" – to "all the girls
out there." The set was a tight 30 minutes, ending with ‘Complicated’,
and no one seemed disappointed by the freebie from a gal who will no
doubt continue her arena status once Under My Skin comes out.
The next day Lavigne assessed the show thus: "(Toronto)
was one of the smallest crowds and also there were so many younger kids.
It’s not usually like that. The others have been just people my
age, like 7000 kids. We’ve only done about five shows so far, but
it’s really cool because I didn’t really know how many kids
would come out. But there’s, like, tons of them, and they’ve
got signs and stuff so it almost feels like a show."
Fans were given only 48 hours notice as to the location
of each mini-concert. "I guess it’s a safety thing, too, because
I think every day they’ve had to close the malls because there’s
been too many kids showing up – which is great!"
The closest she got to her hometown of Napanee, Ontario,
on this swing-through was Place d’Orleans in Ottawa. Some 10,000
showed up, but fire officials had to cut the line about an hour before
Lavigne hit the stage. Thousands reportedly did not get in.
Needless to say, Lavigne isn’t a mall person.
"Not anymore!" she said. "(Once) my record came out and
everything, and since this whole thing happened, that’s always
been the place where I could never really go because there was always
so many people. Sometimes I can but I don’t really like the stores
in malls because they’re all just (full of) plain clothing, just
average styles."
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