Which Avril do you like to see

Avril Lavigne returns to the Philippines for another one-night-only performance at the Araneta Coliseum on Sept. 3. The last time she was here about two or three years ago was a huge success with all the punkistas in town seemingly in futile search of the already sold-out tickets. I am sure they will be at the Big Dome again come Wednesday evening but they should be prepared to share the floor with screaming, swooning tweens who have recently discovered Avril.

The Canadian rocker got a lot of flak from her fans last year when she decided to tone down the punk and opt for a more pop sound in her last album The Best Damn Thing. They loved how punk and rebellious she was in Complicated and Sk8r Boi from her first CD outing Let Go. Then they adored her even more as a punk princess with the even darker and uncompromising No. 1 selling album Under My Skin. Then along came her third The Best Damn Thing which was produced by her husband Deryk Whibley, the lead man of the rock band Sum 41. And horrors! There was their favorite heroine in pink and polka dots on the cover.

Polka dots! Minnie Mouse wears dots. Clowns do, too. People out here only wear those on New Year’s Eve because dots supposedly look like coins and coins attract more coins and a lot of coins means a lot of money. Worse still, Avril has a pink heart on the left corner of the CD and pink streaks on her blonde hair. They were probably thanking their lucky stars that she still kept her trademark dark mascara and eye liner.

However, a year after The Best Damn Thing was released those fans are looking at Avril with more understanding having come to appreciate her new kind of music. Like most artists anxious to maintain their stature as stars with each new project, Avril came to a crossroad and made a choice. The CD is popfest with simple lyrics and perky melodies that invite sing-alongs for the tween set. One-hit-wonder Toni Basil’s Mikey is the first reference that comes to mind and like her polka dots, Avril sounds cute and in great voice throughout. Of course, she is still angry and sassy but there have really been big changes.

Eventually the success of The Best Damn Thing proved Avril right. Girlfriend, the first single out of the CD became her first No. 1 single in the US. It stayed in the Top 10 for most of the year. Then The Best Damn Thing itself followed suit and also landed in No. 1. So as of this writing, it can be rightly said that Avril has not only regained her early following, she has actually gained more fans. Most of them are the kids who do not really care for punk. What they like is rock music that is fun and catchy but also gritty enough for them to indulge their snarling, bratty fantasies. Avril’s latest has lots of that.

This being The Best Damn Tour Concert you can bet that Avril would do mostly songs from the CD in the show. Girlfriend should be a showstopper. Contagious also has a lot of following out here as well as One of Those Girls. Other titles she might do are I Can Do Better; Runaway; When You’re Gone; Everything Back But You Innocence; I Don’t Have to Try; and Keep Holding On. Then let us all hope she will also do Complicated; Sk8r Boi; I’m with You; Losing Grip; Don’t Tell Me; Nobody’s Home; My Happy Ending and other hits from her early albums.

It will be a see-saw situation between the punks and the pops but Avril has shown through her three albums that she can easily handle both. No doubt she will be able to do the same live.

The Best Damn Tour Concert is a Viva Concerts and Events production. Tickets are available at all SM Ticketnet outlets and at the Araneta Coliseum box office. Prices are P6,750 for Patron A & B; P5,250 for Lower Box; P2,850 for Upper Box A; P1,400 for Upper Box B; and P600 for General Admission.