Avril Lavigne rocks Manila with her 'Black Star Tour'

A jampacked Araneta Coliseum rocked along with Avril Lavigne in her Black Star concert tour last Thursday night, February 16. This is the second to the last show of the Black Star Tour Asia leg, which began on February 4 in Tokyo, Japan, and will end on February 18 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Entertaining the crowd at the beginning of the show is heartthrob Rez Toledo, more popularly known as Somedaydream, with his hit song "Hey Daydreamer." The stage was then set for the much-anticipated appearance of the pop-punk princess. The audience screamed upon seeing the Canadian singer who was wearing a loose black sleeveless top from her clothing line, Abbey Dawn, with black tights and boots. Without any foreword, she kicked-off the show with the song from which the tour was named after, "Black Star." She followed it immediately with the dancey-tuned "What the Hell" to loosen up the crowd. After the first two songs, she greeted the crowd: "What's up, Manilaaaa!" "We're so happy to be bringing the Black Star Tour here in Manila. Are you ready to go crazy?" As if the screams were not loud enough, she repeated, "I said are you ready to go crazy tonight?"—which was met by even louder cheers. The crowd banging ensued when she performed some of her older songs: "Sk8er Boi," "He Wasn't," and "I Always Get What I Want." Moving on to her more sentimental pieces, she belted out "Alice," "When You're Gone," and "I Wish You Were Here." A lot of her younger fans could relate with these more recent songs, particularly the last one—in which they sang along, "Damn, damn, damn, I wish you were, here, here, here!" The fans then jumped along with her chart-topping hit, "Girlfriend," followed by a medley of "My Happy Ending" and Hayley Willams's original song "Airplanes." Avril then introduced the members of her band, right before she performed the song "Smile" from the album Goodbye Lullaby. Sitting in front of the drum set, she sang one of her most well-loved songs, "I'm With You." On the last chorus, she made the eager audience sing, "It's a damn cold night, trying to figure out this life. Won't you take me by the hand, take me somewhere new, I don't know who you are but I..." and made them repeat it, twice. At the end of the song, she bowed to the audience, blew a flying kiss, and said, "Thank you. Bye, Manila!" Even the guitarists and the drummer left the stage as the lights dimmed. But the crowd was not to be moved. They kept shouting "More, more!" until the screams became a loud, unified chant of "We want more, we want more!" while thumping their feet. Then came cheers of "Avril! Avril!" After about ten minutes, the audience went wild as the musicians went back on stage. Avril came back and threw a necklace to the crowd for remembrance before singing the song "I Love You." Introducing her last song, she said, "This song is a very special song from my first single. It's called,'Complicated.'" This was her breakthrough song from her first album, Let Go. At the finale, she waved goodbye, blew kisses, and bowed to the crowd. And this time, it was for real. She did a cartwheel just before sprinting off to exit the stage. Celebrities spotted at the concert were Paolo Contis, Robi Domingo, and Jerico Redrico of Pinoy Big Brother Unlinight. -- Kathleen Benavidez, PEP