Avril Lavigne brought pop-punk thundering back to 2024’s bubblegum-saturated Glastonbury Festival, stealing the show with 2002 single, “Sk8er Boi” before an overcrowded audience of 70,000 at The Other Stage.
For her Glastonbury debut, Avril pulled 12 hit songs into alignment, opening on 2007 #1 hit “Girlfriend,” and weaving her way through ballads “Complicated” and “My Happy Ending” before saving the best for last: “Sk8ter Boi” was met with frenzy as the immense crowd sang every lyric back to her, screaming along to its iconic guitar riff.
Avril Lavigne (who may or may not have been replaced by a look-alike in 2003 according to conspiracy theorists) sported a flashback Y2K outfit on her pink-splashed stage: a distressed, tartan miniskirt adorned with buckles, straps, and chains,
a frazzled Union Flag plastered across the back of her cropped, black jacket, finished with fishnet tights, ripped over-the-knee socks, and flat, knee-high platform boots. Her stage design was another throwback, ornamented with skulls and hearts serving pre-
Avril’s Glasto audience grew to be so immense, festival-goers were stopped from joining the ruckus after the crowd at The Other Stage spilled into the campsite. Festival organizers were slated for prioritizing newer artists on the main stage, while underestimating the ever-growing mania for nostalgia-fueled performances. Sugababes experienced similar issues with overcrowding, shutting down entry to the West Holts stage with reports of attendees fainting.
There’s no wonder the crowd was so pumped for Avril’s set — just one week before causing mayhem at Glasto, the Canadian songstress released her Greatest Hits album, comprising pretty much every song featured in her Glastonbury set plus eight extra tracks. After performing at Glasto, Avril will be heading across England and Wales for her sold-out Greatest Hits Tour, before setting sail for her European, Canadian, and North American shows.
The Canadian songstress, now aged 39, revealed the long road to playing Glastonbury after her set. She told the BBC, “I can’t believe it’s taken me 22 years to finally play Glastonbury, but it was amazing. The audience was incredible, everyone was up on shoulders, holding signs and there were colourful smoke bombs going off, it was just so cool.”
She added her theory as to why her hype is still burning strong after 20+ years in the music biz: “Everyone is still really excited by [the music] – I think that’s what connects me and my audience, it’s the songwriting and the songs […] It’s always been important for me to write and be real. I’m writing about stuff that I went through in high school, like having a crush on a guy for the first time, experiencing love and what that feels like.”
Despite the teen mentality of her lyrics, her hits truly do stand the test of time.
If you would like to hear more from this talented artist you can subscribe to her YouTube Channel for more incredible music. You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram. For more information, visit her website.
