The Best Damn Concert

In 2003; I reviewed Avril Lavigne's 'My World' concert tour. That was when she just started out; barely 18 years old; and her first concert tour. 5 years later; she released her 'Best Damn Tour' concert DVD. The world had changed... and so had Avril.

No doubt she was now a more confident 23-year old; you could say at her Imperial Phase; and she did look more confident on stage. In fact; her tune was almost perfect; unlike her 2003 tour when she was badly off-key on some songs.

But there were still some problems. Perhaps Avril is not the best 'live' singer shall we say. Unlike The Click Five & James Blunt; she actually sounds poorer on stage than on the radio. This concert also had a problem of being too 'top-heavy'; most of her big hits like 'I Can Do Better' & 'My Happy Ending' were loaded at the front part of the show; leaving it rather sparse at the tail end. If the intention was to stimulate the crowd from the get-go; it didn't quite work either; as seen in the rather tepid showing of 'My Happy Ending'; surely one of Avril's biggest songs.

It also didn't help that she chose to compress many of her big hits such as 'Innocence' & 'Hot' when surely they deserved a fuller showing. It only served to 'rush' the concert and make it shorter than usual; as she is wont to do. What we can say is her pop-punk sensibilities were perfect at that time; as she released a clutch of catchy hits; much better than what we are seeing from her today.