Simple Plan and Avril Lavigne spearheaded Canada's pop-punk boom in the early 2000s, and they capped off Friday night (July 4) at the Festival d'été de Quebec with back-to-back sets. This was their final show together after a year of Lavigne's Greatest Hits Tour, which officially ended a few days prior. Both performers rode a wave of nostalgia for the mixed-aged crowd — and although they were the night's supporting act, Simple Plan exuded the same teenage energy of their heyday, while Lavigne relied more on the popularity of her hit songs.
Simple Plan hail from Montreal, and they didn't hesitate to embrace their homecoming, delivering the majority of their between-song banter in French. Their thoughtful and interactive add-ons crossed language barriers: there were beach balls, confetti, streamers, pyrotechnics, and people dressed like Scooby-Doo launching shirts into the crowd.
Lead singer Pierre Bouvier's warm presence, as well as guitarists Jeff Stinco and Sébastien Lefebvre's enthusiastic playing, were a delight to watch. Dressed in all-black, their chemistry was tight, as if they've never missed a beat, and their stage presence was a grand celebration of their 26 years in the punk zeitgeist, coming days ahead of the premiere of their Prime Video documentary The Kids in the Crowd.
The Montreal pop-punkers opened with "I'd Do Anything," and quickly followed with "Shut Up," "Jump" and "Welcome to My Life," and they brought out TikTok-famous Torontonian LØLØ to perform "I'm Just a Kid." Simple Plan added a little extra flair with covers of Smash Mouth's "All Star" and the Killers' "Mr. Brightside," while drummer Chuck Comeau crowd-surfed and the band closed with a phone-lit performance of "Perfect."
The audience remained glued to their positions awaiting Lavigne's arrival, which came about 20 minutes after Simple Plan left the stage. She opened with one of her most pop-friendly records, "Girlfriend," which, despite being one her greatest hits, felt non-representative of her discography. The pop-punk princess rocked an all-black fit with an oversized baseball jersey and bow-accented fishnet tights with chunky platform boots. With the peekaboos of pink, blue and green in her hair matching her sparkly eyeshadow and heavy eyeliner, she exuded 2000s nostalgia.
Her fans followed suit with OG skater girl looks in the form of jorts, white tanks and loose neckties. Hit after hit followed, as Lavigne performed "What the Hell," "Complicated" and "Here's to Never Growing Up." A montage from her Let Go era played on the stage's middle screen — a slight blunder, as those on the sides of the stage couldn't see it.
She left the stage for a moment, leaving the crowd without any music, before returning with a slightly altered set-up. Her sparkly silver mic was swapped out for a red one, and she picked up a bedazzled lime green electric guitar to play "My Happy Ending," "Don't Tell Me" and "Sk8er Boi."
Even seamlessly journeying through all her classics with a voice that hasn't reduced in texture and grit, her energy was flat without much movement on stage, aside from breaking into a light jog to touch the audience. The dynamism ramped up when Simple Plan returned to play their collaborative single "Young & Dumb," plus a cover of blink-182's "All The Small Things." In a heartwarming moment, they brought some superfans up on stage, and Lavigne signed skateboards personalized with her face and logo.
To perform her closers, Lavigne returned to the stage in a white tulle skirt, white leather jacket and even bigger platform boots, with imagery of water merged with a reflection of the crowd for the pensive closing run of "Head Above Water," "When You're Gone," and finally, the beloved ballad "I'm With You."
With the benefit of hindsight and maturity, Simple Plan and Lavigne's catalogues now seem incredibly dramatic, evoking the hard emotions that come with teenage angst and heartache. But that's the beauty of it: the feelings from that pivotal period of life reflect what the kids present in the audience are going through right now, while everyone can still relate beyond mere nostalgia. Both acts held their own at FEQ, but Simple Plan's energy ultimately matched that of a headliner.