Approaching the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax there was no mistaking the crowd heading to the show. Many lined up around the corner eagerly awaiting to get in donned plaid skirts, fishnets, and fingerless gloves. As a twenty-something music lover I grew up listening to Avril and was surprised to see the age range in the crowd of passionate Avril fans.
Thursday night started off with a favorite of mine, The Beaches. The Toronto based rock band brings to the stage with lots of energy, and typically have on flashy outfits you can always count on them for a fast paced set filled with hair flips and high kicks. The crowd who were still mingling around when the set started quickly tried to find their seats once they could hear what they were missing and the arena filled up. The Beaches have a number of summer dates set for 2022 including festivals like Ottawa Bluesfest and Festival d’été de Québec in July, plus their “Future Lovers” tour stars in Toronto in August.
Avril kicked things off with balloons which have been a signature piece of the Bite Me Tour. The crowd took to their feet and kicked off the night with two songs from her new Love Sux album, Cannonball and Bite Me. Shooting off confetti and releasing large balloons, the audience was loving the show. The energy really kicked up when she jumped into throwbacks like What the Hell from her Goodbye Lullaby album. The show was high energy, filled with a balance of nostalgia and throwbacks with lots of new songs (2022 marks the 20 year anniversary of Avril’s Let Go album which has a number of well known hits including Sk8r Boi and Complicated).
This was the last stop on this leg of Avril’s Bite Me Tour, but she has more dates scheduled throughout the summer including Madison Square Garden in NYC Jun 28th and Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on July 6th. Avril will be touring well into 2023 globally and her full tour schedule can be found HERE.
Set List:
Cannonball
Bite Me
What the Hell
Here’s to Never Growing Up
Complicated
My Happy Ending
Smile
Losing Grip
Love it When You Hate Me
Hello Kitty
Girlfriend