just wanted to paraphrase a certain friend of mine.

so there. hey, hey. and a you, you to ya. best. i’ve said it before, suka cakap suka. we bloody did.

the thing with buying the tix way back in december is that the tunes from the best damn thing have pretty much taken the metaphorical back seat. the NEC arena was amassed by what looked like a primary school trip of fun, literally. i hope the parents know that by the end of the gig, their kids will know of the word ‘motherfucker’.

missed the jonas brothers, which sounded like a poor man’s panic at the disco (in turn the poor man’s fall out boy), as i was queuing behind moms buying pink baby tees for their daughters, and get to check out the prettiest girl selling tour merchandise. i didn’t mind missing my turn at all.

avril got out onstage to belt out the sickeningly (but infectious) uptempo girlfriend. i was up for some hey hey you you action but she had dancers. yup, goose-stepping dancers with flags, a la kim jong il’s minions. kacau. the dancers stayed on for i can do better and thank god they were gone thereafter (but not for long).

garish pink was the order of the day. may it be telecasters, acoustic guitars and a pearl drum kit. oh well. as usual, she had a piano out and played when you’re gone. fcuked up a couple of notes at the end of one chorus and i swore the pinkness hadn’t anything to do with the stage lights.

mid-show, the set was acoustic. so out came the usual staples like innocence and, surprisingly, losing grip (the first ever song i loved – bukan itu sk8er poio) from her debut. rocked everything back but you, played drums for runaway, pom pom-ed her way through the best damn thing and got her old grey tele out for he wasn’t.

no surprises, sk8er poio was the penutup tirai. best friday night ever, for a while, really!

nec arena, birmingham 30.05.08 set: girlfriend / i can do better / complicated / my happy ending / i’m with you / when you’re gone / innocence / hot / losing grip / everything back but you / runaway / the best damn thing / i don’t have to try / he wasn’t / boyfriend (remix) / [encore] sk8er boi
[setlist from poplife.biz]