Avril Lavigne with guests The New Cities, and Evan Taubenfeld at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, MB on October 16, 2011.
As many teens started to make their way into the MTS Centre, many with their parents, they dressed an imitated their life long punk-princess idol, Avril Lavigne. Dressing in dark colours, with loads of makeup on, with ties, and bracelets, the excitement level was pretty high that evening.
Starting off the evening was Avril’s ex-lead guitar player Evan Taubenfeld. Evan is now doing his own thing, which was solely him and his acoustic guitar. Evan did not seem to put much effort into the show, and treated it more as if he was at an open-mic. If he didn’t do so much for Avril in the past, I wouldn’t have seen him getting this touring gig at all.
Next up was The New Cities. I can not say enough about these guys, they were phenomenal. As will Avril, The New Cities call Canada home. The New Cities boast a ‘Pop-y/Rock/Alternative” type of music, with catchy courses and exciting bridges. Starting 5 minutes early for their 40 minute set, they took the stage and rocked it, one of the highest energy bands, with a well-lit stage, really brought out all their effort they put into their music, and specifically their live show. Playing hits such as Heatwave and Dead End Countdown many of the Avril fans sang along. These guys were definitely my favourite of the night.
Up next was the infamous punk-princess, Avril Lavigne. Avril opened up with the 1:30 song in length, Black Star, which was written and produced to promote her perfume. She then made her way into her most successful hit off her new album, Goodbye Lullaby, What The Hell. Throughout her set she touched on all her hits, including Sk8er Boi, When You’re Gone, Girlfriend, and I’m With You. She also covered B.O.B’s Airplanes which she merged into My Happy Ending. Inviting opener Evan Taubenfeld back on stage to duet her encore, they ended off with Complicated, leaving cell phones (and very little lighters) in the air waving back and forth. Appearing like she wasn’t putting much effort into the show, she still had all her fans screaming throughout, and singing along. To be fair, it reminded me how many hits she has produced throughout her career already.
Overall, if you’re a die hard Avril Lavigne fan, I imagine you will go see her shows despite what I say, however I encourage most to go to the shows, specifically for The New Cities.
