Toronto - March 11th 2004 by Sharifa - Mall Tour

[Sharifa]

March 11th - Fairview Mall And Provate CHUM show
Reviewer : Sharifa (Staticrebelle)

Let me start off by saying: AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THAT WAS THE SINGLEMOST FUCKING GREATEST NIGHT OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!
In total, I spent 12 hours waiting to see both shows, but seriously I would have spent five times that much time waiting. It was the most brilliant experience of my life to be sitting two meters away from Avril and have her smiling at you. She’s like a fucking drug – with one smile you forget absolutely everything and you just chill.

I arrived at the venue around 8:00 AM and chilled with two other Bandaids - Bri* and Rachel* - and their two friends (Jenna, Victoria, Stella, and Victoria's bf arrived later). Then her tech/"decoy" bus arrived and they started pulling out all the gear for the show. Bri*, Rachel*, and I walked inside for a Starbucks break and saw Av and Ev's stools and mics all set up (which brought on yet another round of high pitched squeals). Av's microphone must have been half a foot shorter than Evans. And then we saw the guitars all lined up and being tuned and recognized Brian from Ash's audio and pics of the Minneapolis show. So we went over and talked to him for a bit and he gave us guitar pics from the Try To Shut Me Up tour and told us that Av's old technician is now working with Dido and that he (Brian) used to work for Sum 41. We talked to him for a bit longer and gave him some shit to give to Avril. We made a Bandaids mix CD for Avril that we had some of the mods, admins, and heavier posters submit songs for. Jenna designed a killer cover for it, which I'm sure you could convince her to post here. I also put in this really corny letter from all of us just thanking her for everything that she does for us.

We went back outside, and then the reporters and photographers arrived. Holy fuck, Victoria was interviewed so many frigging times for being from Arizona. Then a fuckload of BMG people arrived and started passing out posters with the Don't Tell Me single cover that said the release date of Under My Skin on them. Its rather curious that Under My Skin was written on the Don't Tell Me picture, but they probably just want to keep the CD cover design a secret until later. They finally let us in to the mall and our glorious group of nine got front row, just a bit right of the center. Then even more reporters came for interviews, and one bitch made us sing Complicated and wouldn't leave until we did it. Then there was more waiting, until finally George Strombolopolous hit the stage...everyone screamed... Fucking false alarm... Then he got back on the stage....everyone screamed even louder...yet another fucking false alarm....

Finally he got on the stage for a third time and announced Avril. And then suddenly she was on the stage. I can't even fucking describe was what going through my head at that time - it was so fucked up that she was even there. She started with He Wasn't, then did My Happy Ending, Sk8er Boi, Don't Tell Me, Take Me Away, Nobody's Home, and Complicated. Throughout the entire show she kept on looking over at us as we were the only ones singing along. I seriously can't tell you anything else that happened, it all went by so fucking fast and all the other details are a blur.
As soon as she finished the last song Jenna, Victoria, Stella, Adam, Callum, and I jetted out to the subway to go down for the CHUM show. We actualy ended up taking Richmond instead of Queen to get over to John St. where the show was happening, but our mistake turned out to be a blessing because we saw Av's bus. We went over to the front of it and waved at Evan, who gave us a little wave back. Then some woman shut a curtain so we couldn't see them anymore. So then we lined up for teh show, but there was a bitch of a line-up in front of us so we though we were fucked for seats. Victoria attempted to deal us up closer to the front - but that didn't happen.

We got into the concert room finally, and at first we were sitting behind Avril off to the left side. So we gave up our seats to go see if there was any standing space at the back where we could at least see her face. Finally the CHUM people gave in and set up 6 more seats for us in the front row.

And then Avril walked in. I’ll try to summarize what happened, but most of it will be on Victoria’s audio recording of the show, so I won’t go into any big details. This show was set up to be an interview/performance, so she did a quick interview (I remember what she said during the show, but I don’t remember the order she said it in, so rather than fuck it up completely just wait for Victoria’s audio of the interview to hear what she said) and then Cory Kim, the interviewer dude, asked her what song she was gonna play. So I yelled out “Play Take It” and the rest of us yelled it too. And she fucking looked over at us and did this jaw-drop and said, “How do you guys know about that song?” One of us yelled out “Avrilbandaids.com” and then she said, “Uhhh… Shauna” and did her little half/chuckle laugh. And then Cory asked her some other question, but she turned back to us and said, “Wait, is that song on the internet?” And we replied that we had just heard that it was really good and wanted to hear it.

Anyways, then we yelled out to her to play My Happy Ending, so she’s like, Ok lets do my Happy Ending. Her voice sounded so fucking crystal clear. I seriously hope they put out an acoustic CD or at least an acoustic version of Under My Skin. Then she went on to do Don’t Tell Me and at the end of the song Evan was like speaking the chords into her ear and telling her what to play and then she nailed it at the end and had this huge smile on.
They broke back to do more of the interview and holy fucking god Avril is damn hilarious. Then she had to decide what she was gonna perform next so I yelled out “Slipping Away” and one of the other members in our group yelled out “Daydream” and she gave us another “How do you know about that song?” look. Then she said, “That song’s not even on the album” So then we yelled out “Take Me Away” and she said, “ok we’ll do Take Me Away and...” And then one of us yelled “He Wasn’t” so she said, “Thank you, and He Wasn’t”.

They sat down back onto the stools and Brian brought out Evan’s guitar, but he had to get another one for Av so there was about a 20 second wait. And Evan started strumming the beginning bars of Complicated and Av’s face was so fucking priceless. She looked like she was about to shoot Evan, so he stopped. They finally brought out her guitar and Evan started playing Take Me Away. He passed the spot where she was supposed to start singing, so she was like, oh shit I can’t remember the words. So we all yell, “We can sing it for you!” And she looked over and smiled at us again!!! They fucking owned up Take Me Away – her voice sounded incredible on that song. Then they moved into He Wasn’t and Evan was helping her with the chords again – she looked so cute and happy when she did it correctly.

They went back, did some more interview, and then had to pick two more songs. She kept asking if she had to do one of her singles and saying she didn’t want to. So we all yelled out “Nobody’s Home” and she’s like ok we’ll do that one. And then someone yelled Complicated and she’s like “noooooooo!!!! We could do Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”. And everyone’s like “Ya do that one!”

So she set up to do Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and went on this mini-rant about how she hates playing Complicated because they’ve played it so many times and because its such a long song. Then the Cory Kim guy came back and whispered in her ear that she has to do Complicated and she goes “NNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Ok, we have to do Complicated." Then just as she’s about to start Knockin’ she’s like, Oh fuck I can’t remember how to play this. So she asked Evan, what chords do I play? And then she was fingering what she had to play, and she goes, is this the chord? Absolutely fucking hilarious moment. They finished off Knockin’ and then did Complicated. And at the end she sang it “No, Yes, Yes” instead of “No, No, No” and she had this monolithic smile on like she was doing something incredibly devious.

They went back, did some more interview, and then Cory Kim asked her to finish the night off with some “inspirational saying” or something like that. So Avril was like uhhhhh… talk about pressure. And you could tell that she really didn’t want to say anything at all. So Evan said, “Buy the new album” and Av goes, ya that its and gave this little laugh. But Cory I guess didn’t realize that she didn’t want to do it so he asked her again and she like put her head under her leg like she was trying to hide from him or something. So finally he was like, “just mumble into the mic so that it sounds like you said something cool” and Av was just sitting there going uhhh… and then one of the other ladies signalled that time was up for the interview so they finished it off and then Avril left the room.Then they came back into the room and left by another side door, and they were followed by Matt, Charlie, and some other dude. Jesse wasn’t there.

So basically Avril was fucking hilarious during the interview and she kept on looking over at us and smiling. AND WE WERE THE ONLY FUCKING PEOPLE SINGING ALONG TO HER SONGS!! Like, even during complicated no one was mouthing the words. The entire audience was a bunch of old parents with their kids and we were probably the only teenagers/young twenties people there. What a waste of an incredible concert – rather than give tickets to the real fans the room was full of moms, and one family that was front row-center actually left early… but meh, we just grabbed their seats. This was easily the single greatest day of my life and I seriously cannot wait until she comes back to Toronto for the Live at Much thing!!!

[citygal3]

awesome! lol, i couldn't get to see her at all. i t was actually kinda sad. hahaha. may i come with you next time she comes over here to t.o.? lol

[Sharifa]

Absolutely! Woot another UO fan

xx

[citygal3]

UO is frickin' awesome! lol, have you seen any of their bands live?

[dogtech]

lol staticrebelle im not sure where the year end concerts will be but if you do go for one of the year end concerts which i am damn sure you will, do you think i could tag along? 0.0 well i must admit im not a teen but i will be next year! and if you think that like im annoying like those pesky little 6 year old brats, trust me im not =) oh yah and obviously you shouldnt be expecting an american boy with freckles shouting im dogtech! itll just be a singaporean boy with purp specs trying to imitate avril lavigne's "boyfriend" video style lol! well when i get to meet avril lavigne live and get her to autograph my avril cd or someth, my life will be 1/4 completed. when i get to tag along with you and the rest of the administrators, my life will be 2/4 complete. and when i get like some choice actors from hollywoods autographs, my life will be 3/4 complete and when i get to be a hollywood asian star like lucy liu or somth, my life will be officially complete! if you do allow me to tag along, well 1/4 of my life has been fufilled thanks alot for considering! hope to get a nice reply =) anyway, that said, Avril rocks! keep rocking Avril! whats more to say about her? shes perfect in every way =)

[dogtech]

although i would LOVE to tag along, please dont take pity on me and say "hey we're fulfilling 1/4 of his life =)" but do take me along cause you want to? lol greatly appreciated thanks! that said, Avril rocks! keep rocking Avril! whats more to say about her? shes perfect in every way =)

[Sharifa]

Hey,

The next time Avril has a concert in Toronto there will probably be some sort of Bandaids meet-up When that happens, you'll find out about it on the forums.

xx

[Avril 41]

well thats my birthday lol thats awesome

[dogtech]

oh i see... thanks loads staticrebelle! Avril lavigne rocks and so do you! thanks! but i gotta go a few days before to recover form jetlag T.T I do want to get on avrils tourbus like you do! and i want to get her autographs and have pictures taken with her i dont mind flying 24 hours =) that said Avril rocks! keep rocking Avril! whats more to be said about her? shes perfect in every way =)