Avril Lavigne with Simple Plan and friends at the Xfinity Center

Music is like time travel. Of course, you can do a lot with it, but that’s one of the most important things. If you play the right song from your youth – or even the wrong one – you’ll be transported back to that time with all the feelings you had then. And when the artist herself stands in front of you reeling off one memory after another, it can create an alchemy that goes beyond the performance itself.

It’s unlikely Avril Lavigne was thinking so explicitly when she conceived her Greatest Hits Tour, which wrapped Saturday at the Xfinity Center. But she definitely had an idea. “Who’s over 30 here?” she asked the crowd at one point. “Well, you’re 17 again today.” When she explained that “Complicated” took her back to 2002, she wasn’t just speaking for herself.

That’s because Lavigne is a deeply felt (and under-recognized) touchstone for a generation of women, a generation for whom Alanis Morissette was perhaps too old and/or intimidating, and Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera perhaps too inauthentic. That was true of Lavigne too, of course—much ink was spilled at the time both to label her a punk and to explain that she was not—but it didn’t matter; ironically, the image was all that mattered. And so her moody, snotty, well-crafted, and often insidiously effective songs found their way into countless hearts.

Lavigne brought pretty much all of it, starting with the big, idiotic and brilliant cheerleader siren of “Girlfriend,” which saw the singer parading around the stage, half-bored, in a garish black and bright green and pink hoodie, just right for the song. The nervous keyboard twitches of “What The Hell” could have been a Pink from another universe, and the forbidding “He Wasn’t” flew and floated on the sound of a sold-out crowd singing along, even though it wasn’t one of her biggest hits. Even if they weren’t ubiquitous, Lavigne’s choruses were and remain indelible.

Lavigne has always been a stiff artist and hasn’t shown much in the way of personality that wasn’t strictly scripted; the Pink of this universe has no reason to worry about that. But she was noticeably looser and more relaxed, both in her songs and between them, than in the past. She performed the heavy shuffle of the latter’s “Addicted” with her 2003 tour mates Simple Plan and blew bubbles she’d just begged from the audience. That was perhaps the only truly spontaneous thing she did all night. Then she and Simple Plan frontman Pierre Bouvier went back to spraying smoke into the crowd from jets.

Bitchiness may be Lavigne’s trademark, but she could also beg and frustrate. Sometimes it was all in the same song, as on “My Happy Ending,” which had a hint of Ray Of Light-era Madonna in the intro before moving into the powerful guitars that provided the backbone. The slower and softer “Don’t Tell Me” was defiant, but also sad and hurt. And with jets of smoke and flame exploding to the rhythm of the drums, “When You’re Gone” was a proper power ballad that had lighters circling in the air.

That was indeed Lavigne’s secret weapon. When she returned for her encore in a flowing white gown (albeit with zippers, studs, and heavy lace-up boots), she stood on a platform at the back of the stage and unleashed the windswept drama of the slow and droning “Head Above Water”; shifted a degree or two, it could have been Celine Dion. She moved to the front and ended the song in the same style with a warm and stirring “I’m With You,” all the more powerful because nearly 20,000 people were singing along as they had done their entire lives.

Opening with cheeky Sum 41-style pop-punk, the friends seemed to be inventing emo, unaware that someone had already done it for them three decades earlier. Whether she was real or a fictional creation, the song’s explicit mention of Travis Mills’ ex-girlfriend by name and the profane cheers he inspired from the crowd showed that they had also adopted the old emo misogyny.

Simple Plan seemed to operate with a similar teenage attitude – every lyric sounded like it should be followed by a snotty “…Mom!” – but they offered a more inviting take on pop-punk. With a slew of heart-wrenching guitar anthems, they played with absolute joy, whether playing original material like “Welcome To My Life” or rapturously received covers of “All Star” and “Mr. Brightside.” The mention that “I’m Just A Kid” was 22 years old made it sound like Bouvier was implying he was feeling old, but it became clear that he was more pleased to still be playing for adoring fans all these years later. It wasn’t about recapturing or reliving their glory days, just remembering them. Just a trip back in time.

Setlist for Avril Lavigne at Xfinity Center – August 24, 2024

Girlfriend
What the hell
Complicated
Smile
here’s to never growing up
Hot
My happy ending
He was not
Don’t tell me
Losing your grip
When you’re gone
Addicted (Simple Plan coverage) (with Simple Plan)
Bite me
Love it when you hate me
Sk8erBoy

ADDITION

Head above water
I am with you

You can reach Marc Hirsh at (email protected) or on Bluesky @spacecitymarc.bsky.social.