sofia22
Aug 27th, 2005, 10:24 AM
By MARTIN L. JOHNSON, Correspondent
RALEIGH -- With dewy eyes, bleached blond hair and a camouflage shirt sure to be donned by her thousands of Triangle fans within a few days, Avril Lavigne worked through a short but heartfelt show on Wednesday night at the Alltel Pavilion.
Mixing a girlish enthusiasm with adolescent pouting, Lavigne expressed the emotions of her fans better than they could themselves in a set than ran just over an hour.
Her interaction with the crowd was playful -- at one point she engaged them in an impromptu game of Simon Says to teach them how to pump their fists in the air. But her performance was professional, if at times a bit too polished.
Drawing from the well of her own bad relationships and insecurities to sing cautionary tales to her young fans, Lavigne's songs are so well-crafted that it's easy to forget her lyrics are almost uniformly unhappy.
Lavigne introduced "Don't Tell Me," a hit off of the 2004 album "Under My Skin" that criticizes a potential boyfriend who made unwanted advances, as a "song about being strong and standing up for yourself." As a pop star whose fans may know of no other stars before her, Lavigne is able to connect with her fans in ways most musicians cannot.
But unlike other pop stars whose fan base is drawn primarily from middle-schoolers, Lavigne is not a sex symbol. Although the disarmingly pretty 20-year-old poses for fashion magazines, her insistence on appearing to do things her own way has made her a role model for those who reject conventional standards of beauty.
This is not to say her fans reject fashion outright. Lavigne's influence could be felt throughout the crowd, with fans wearing studded leather wristbands and pink-and-black striped ties hung loosely around their neck. At the many merchandise booths, fans could buy the usual T-shirts and posters as well as flashing plastic devil horns that Lavigne herself modeled on stage.
The youngest fans, some of whom looked as if they might not have been in school when Lavigne emerged as a star four years ago, screamed along with the teenage fans for much of the show, but as the night wore on, some faded to the warm retreat of their parents' arms.
Given that Lavigne has sold more than 14 million albums, attendance was surprisingly light, though that may have been more a sign of school schedules and other concerts -- including Green Day -- the same night than of Lavigne's popularity.
The two opening acts, Butch Walker and Gavin DeGraw, were different from each other and from Lavigne. While Walker shares Lavigne's love of punk pop and returned to the stage for her encore cover of Blur's "Song 2," (on which she played drums) his rougher look made him a reach for Lavigne fans, who were even taken aback by her cover of blink-182's "All the Small Things."
DeGraw, on the other hand, didn't have to worry about taking things too punk, but his affection for 1960s rock and roll seemed out of place. As a result, he and Lavigne were more like co-headliners, with DeGraw's set just 15 minutes shorter than Lavigne's, playing for very different audiences.
But DeGraw, whose biggest hit "I Don't Want To Be" blends too easily into the rest of pop radio, has a long way to go before he catches up with Lavigne.
She's already at the top of her game, which is now unfortunately par for the course in the pop world.
Lavigne, whose talent shines even under pop's bright lights, should still be around once her fans have their own experiences, not those of pop stars, to learn from.
http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/story/2752933p-9190466c.html
:wink: :tongue: :biggrin: :D :wink: ;) :tongue:
RALEIGH -- With dewy eyes, bleached blond hair and a camouflage shirt sure to be donned by her thousands of Triangle fans within a few days, Avril Lavigne worked through a short but heartfelt show on Wednesday night at the Alltel Pavilion.
Mixing a girlish enthusiasm with adolescent pouting, Lavigne expressed the emotions of her fans better than they could themselves in a set than ran just over an hour.
Her interaction with the crowd was playful -- at one point she engaged them in an impromptu game of Simon Says to teach them how to pump their fists in the air. But her performance was professional, if at times a bit too polished.
Drawing from the well of her own bad relationships and insecurities to sing cautionary tales to her young fans, Lavigne's songs are so well-crafted that it's easy to forget her lyrics are almost uniformly unhappy.
Lavigne introduced "Don't Tell Me," a hit off of the 2004 album "Under My Skin" that criticizes a potential boyfriend who made unwanted advances, as a "song about being strong and standing up for yourself." As a pop star whose fans may know of no other stars before her, Lavigne is able to connect with her fans in ways most musicians cannot.
But unlike other pop stars whose fan base is drawn primarily from middle-schoolers, Lavigne is not a sex symbol. Although the disarmingly pretty 20-year-old poses for fashion magazines, her insistence on appearing to do things her own way has made her a role model for those who reject conventional standards of beauty.
This is not to say her fans reject fashion outright. Lavigne's influence could be felt throughout the crowd, with fans wearing studded leather wristbands and pink-and-black striped ties hung loosely around their neck. At the many merchandise booths, fans could buy the usual T-shirts and posters as well as flashing plastic devil horns that Lavigne herself modeled on stage.
The youngest fans, some of whom looked as if they might not have been in school when Lavigne emerged as a star four years ago, screamed along with the teenage fans for much of the show, but as the night wore on, some faded to the warm retreat of their parents' arms.
Given that Lavigne has sold more than 14 million albums, attendance was surprisingly light, though that may have been more a sign of school schedules and other concerts -- including Green Day -- the same night than of Lavigne's popularity.
The two opening acts, Butch Walker and Gavin DeGraw, were different from each other and from Lavigne. While Walker shares Lavigne's love of punk pop and returned to the stage for her encore cover of Blur's "Song 2," (on which she played drums) his rougher look made him a reach for Lavigne fans, who were even taken aback by her cover of blink-182's "All the Small Things."
DeGraw, on the other hand, didn't have to worry about taking things too punk, but his affection for 1960s rock and roll seemed out of place. As a result, he and Lavigne were more like co-headliners, with DeGraw's set just 15 minutes shorter than Lavigne's, playing for very different audiences.
But DeGraw, whose biggest hit "I Don't Want To Be" blends too easily into the rest of pop radio, has a long way to go before he catches up with Lavigne.
She's already at the top of her game, which is now unfortunately par for the course in the pop world.
Lavigne, whose talent shines even under pop's bright lights, should still be around once her fans have their own experiences, not those of pop stars, to learn from.
http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/story/2752933p-9190466c.html
:wink: :tongue: :biggrin: :D :wink: ;) :tongue: