Avril Lavigne transforms the early 2000s into a punk-pop nostalgia festival with a concert

At the sold-out Ameris Bank Amphitheater in Alpharetta on Tuesday night, Lavigne drew a crowd of millennials ready for an early ride through the fog of nostalgia. Lavigne jogged people's memories with plenty of videos of her younger self, while live she presented a less upbeat, slightly perky and more grounded version of her middle-aged self.

With Rapunzel-style blonde hair down to her waist, wearing a black skirt, white hoodie and chunky black boots, she sometimes moved hesitantly, disappearing from the stage here and there without explanation. Her banter was generic and impersonal, her bandmates dutifully remaining unobtrusive. Her voice sounded stronger on the ballads like “Losing Grip” than on the faster songs like “Girlfriend.”

All in all, she delivered a lovely and memorable run of her well-known hits, spanning 85 minutes and 17 songs. During “What the Hell,” she had half the crowd singing “la la la” and the other half singing “whoa whoa.” She checked the demographics of the crowd before launching into “Here's to Never Growing Up.” Before “Nobody's Home,” she remarked, “It's been way too long since I've been to Atlanta.”

This was actually Lavigne's first real headlining gig in Atlanta in a whopping 16 years, so there was pent-up demand. After her 2008 concert at Philips Arena, she returned for an eight-song mini-set at Star 94's Jingle Jam in 2013. Then, debilitating Lyme disease sidelined her for years. She has since recovered and performed at State Farm Arena in 2022 as the opening act for Machine Gun Kelly, playing eight songs.

Photo credit: RODNEY HO/rhoajc

Photo credit: RODNEY HO/rhoajc

A highlight of the evening was when she took the stage with her opening act and fellow Canadians Simple Plan to sing the band's hit “Addicted” alongside a slew of fans in the crowd who received selfies and signed skateboards. Pierre Bouvier, Simple Plan's 45-year-old lead singer, now looks like a heavily tattooed soccer dad, but had far more panache and stage presence than Lavigne.

Travis Mills, lead singer of opening act Girlfriends (not to be confused with Lavigne's song “Girlfriend”), then jumped onstage to join Lavigne in a spirited duet cover of Blink-182's “All the Small Things,” a reference to a band that ushered in the late 1990s/early 2000s pop-punk phase and clearly inspired both Mills and Lavigne. Mills also got bonus points for wearing a Smiths T-shirt.

Lavigne filled the concert bingo card with pink and black streamers, confetti, wild graphics and minor-key techno. And for the encore, she donned a flowing white dress and sang two ballads, first channeling her inner Stevie Nicks on “Head Above Water” before closing with a powerful “I'm With You.” Then she left the stage without lingering.