[TOUR] Greatest Hits Tour 2024

I finally found the time to watch the entire concert from Wednesday. All the videos I watched were uploaded by this YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/@sonicavril/videos (big thanks to them for sharing!). It seems this fan was quite close to the stage, or had a camera with good zoom. You can see Avril's expressions very well. Sound quality is also good.

So, anyway... I'm relieved to say that I'm happily eating my words. Well, some of them, anyway. Turns out the clips I saw earlier really did show the worst moments of the concert. That's really not representative of the whole show imo. There were actually some good moments, too.

The first five songs were probably the best ones imo. Her vocals were mostly good, she seemed to have a decent amount of energy and passion, and truly seemed to be having a good time, judging by her cute smiles. WTH was probably the highlight of the show. Yes, it started a little rough, but it got really good after the first verse. "Complicated" got a more authentic introduction than what I'm used to from her, which was really nice. She did struggle during HTNGU; the song starts with just vocals and percussion, and I think she didn't hear a reference note, so she started in the wrong key. This was fixed the moment the first verse started, though. She then forgot the lyrics to the first few lines of the second verse, but recovered quickly. As far as I can tell, this was the only time she forgot lyrics throughout the show. Right after HTNGU, "Hot" (instrumental) was played as some sort of outro/interlude, though only the chorus. Still, better than nothing; at least the song got a bit of recognition.

I thought that LG video interlude was weird, it felt like a commercial break, lol. After that came MHE, and that's when things started going downhill imo. Avril started sounding out of breath, she seemed to struggle hitting notes now and then (most of them were still fine, though), and her passion seemed to have been replaced with that orange electric guitar (such a pretty guitar, though!). She also started using that weird accent now and then. I've got the feeling this is her attempt at making performing more fun for her. I just find it striking that the moment she seems to have lost her passion, the weird accent pops up again...

FAH was the first absolute letdown. That IG live thingy was so cringe imo, and clearly pre-recorded. The performance then started out kind of meh, but it really fell apart once those two fans got invited on stage. The gesture was cute, but I truly don't understand why they were brought up on stage if they were just left to stand there once the performance continued? Like, why didn't Avril and/or Alex let them sing with them? They didn't even tell the fans to clap to the beat or wave their arms in the air. They simply seemed to ignore them. If they had at least performed the rest of the song well, but yikes, wtf was that? I didn't pay much attention to Alex, but Avril sounded really bad. That whole last part of FAH seemed confusing af, almost as if everyone on stage had forgotten what they were supposed to be doing. That really was a trainwreck, and I was actually glad when it was over. I feel kind of sorry for the two fans. What an awkward situation. I hope they still had fun and are able to think of this moment positively.

After this mess of a performance, Avril seemed to recover for "Bite Me", but overall, I found this performance to be kind of meh as well. Though she really nailed that high "know I should've run" in the bridge! I also liked the little speech Avril gave prior to LIWYHM; she seemed quite emotional for a moment. Which was then kind of ruined by two more bad performances. She was just lacking passion and breath control, struggled with her voice again, and her weird accent... WTF was THAT?! I don't actually think she was drunk, but she truly sounded like it during the first verse of "Sk8er Boi".

The encore was fortunately better again, with IWY being vocally as good as usual (what a relief!), though she has done better before if I'm being honest. I was kind of annoyed that she spent the first verse playing around with her sleeves, as if she didn't care about the song. But I like that she let the audience sing the last chorus a couple of times before belting the high notes herself. That part is always such a highlight!

I also want to mention that the visuals were quite stunning. Partly a bit over the top, partly a bit tacky with all those logos, but I really enjoyed them most of the time. It must have been absolutely amazing actually seeing that live. I wasn't a fan of Avril's outfits, though. The first one looked super tacky; the last one, I didn't like the pants, they also looked quite tacky to me. But the UMS outfit was nice. I'm glad UMS got its own entire outfit and even its own section of the show (MHE, "He Wasn't", and DTM all in a row!) - the only album to get such a special treatment. She also wore this outfit for a really long time. Her hair was the worst, though; how can anyone let her wear these ridiculous extensions? They look so horribly cheap. Why can't she at least get extensions that look good, like during TBDT era? I just don't get it... And well, as probably 90 % of her entire fanbase have mentioned already, the setlist is just way too short. I heard ATL played 12 songs. How can the main act only play 3 more songs than the opening act? For a greatest hits tour? If she could at least perform those 15 songs passionately - heck, I'd take half of that if she was actually able to show passion on stage throughout the show. But oh well... :/

So yeah, keeping in mind that I didn't experience this live, only watched YouTube videos, which is never an accurate portrayal of what it's like to actually be there - I think the show was okay overall. It definitely wasn't a great show, but it surely wasn't her worst either imo. I'd say it was just a bit below her usual standard.

Unfortunately, I don't think her standard has been that good in recent years. It's just quite noticeable how many moments there have been in those last few eras where she doesn't seem to care, where her passion just seems to have left work early. She's never been that energetic a performer, but I feel like some time during the Black Star Tour, she started getting bored, which may be what led to her using that weird accent. When the LS era began, I felt things were finally getting better again, that she finally seemed to have found her passion again. But then the EU tour happened, and there she was again, performing like she was wearing Squidward's "I really wish I weren't here right now" badge (sorry, I know this sounds super mean, and I'm not saying she actually feels that way, but it sadly comes across this way ). And in addition to that, she started struggling a lot with her stamina and hitting notes. Now, about a year later, this still hasn't really changed, and to make matters even worse, the weird accent is back, and worse than ever before!

I really hope she can find her passion (or ability to show passion on stage) again soon, and then keep it! That's honestly what I care about the most. And I think she also really needs to work on her stamina. Yes, she's nearing 40, she may be struggling with her health, and there might be other stuff going on we don't know about. There are tons of valid explanations, but at this point, none of this excuses the lacking quality of her performances any longer. If she struggles with something that keeps her from performing well, she needs to adapt her shows, as many of us have mentioned lately.

I could write more, but this post is already way too long and it's getting late here.

Hmmm I didn't know there was an intro thing into FAH. I had a look at it and yeah I mean it's obviously a scripted and pre-recorded thing but it's kind of cute and I think they did it as a way to naturally transition to ATL to enter the stage so they don't just randomly appear I guess. I noticed she mentioned Vancouver in the video, I wonder if every city will get their own shoutout? Did they record multiple versions of this for each show? ATL is gone after this first leg so they probably didn't have to redo it too many times.

I love that the When You're Gone interlude are Dare To Love Me <3

Wait... is Do I Wanna Know being played before HTNGU and Beverly Hills before MHE? Hahahaha funny that she could make use other songs as short band interludes.

Don't know if I'm true tho. BTW, amazing to see the videos from this channel.

Despite all the problems that we've been discussing since the first concert, the show seems much better in these videos closer to the stage than those short from twitter and tiktok.

As someone who has seen Avril live in front of the stage, I would like to tell you: she is the motherfucking princess! She will cheer you up a lot!

I was shocked to make my dream come true, I was ecstatic with more than 100 thousand people at Rock in Rio singing IWY and Avril's songs.

She knows how to do it. She just needs to want it.

I hope that the band, manager and close friends will be able to pass on the fans' requests to her (larger setlist with NH, WYWH, Hot, etc. and of course, the coming of the GH Tour to South America and Australia, as per huge rumors reported by the press about negotiations for 2025).