Singer says her voice is the Worst Damn Thing after bad case of the flu
NAPANEE, ONTARIO, CANADA – MAY 4, 2008 – After canceling a concert in San Diego on Wednesday and another in Phoenix two days later, Avril Lavigne has scratched six more dates throughout California and Washington state. The 23-year-old Canadian singer says she’s sick with laryngitis and simply cannot perform.
In a statement released Saturday, Lavigne said, “My sincerest apologies to all of my fans. My intention was to complete the rest of the tour, but tonight at sound check in Anaheim I realized this wasn’t possible.”
It’s doubtful her die-hard fans won’t forgive her faster than they can say RecordLabel Blonde, but others don’t seem so lenient.
After the San Diego cancellation, a mother of a fan was quoted on ContactMusic.com as saying, “Most of Avril’s fans are young girls, who had to travel quite a distance to get to the show. With gas prices what they are, you would have thought that someone would have alerted the local media and radio stations, so that everyone knew the concert was cancelled.”
Joe Mansfield, who drove his three teenage daughters and six of their friends 100 miles from Norwalk, Calif., for the San Diego show, said he hopes his kids have learned their lesson.
“Their mother and I tried to teach them values, but they became fans of Avril, anyway,” Mansfield said as he waited in the parking lot for his oldest daughter to return after running off with a middle-aged man on a Harley Davidson. “Now I think they’ll see that all this teenage rock-star business is just a bunch of crap designed to rake money out of impressionable young fans.”
Lavigne said it hurts her that people feel that way about her art, and her integrity, which she says she’s had since she was 19.
“Not being able to perform was a totally last-minute thing,” Lavigne said quietly late Saturday night as she recuperated in her hometown of Napanee, Ontario. “I had a temperature of like a hundred and ten on Wednesday, then yesterday at the sound check, my voice was just gone. Nobody wants to hear the Best Damn Thing sing like something out of a fucking cartoon.”
Realizing she wouldn’t be able to go onstage, Lavigne had her tour manager contact promoters and cancel last night’s show in Anaheim as well as upcoming shows in Universal City, Santa Barbara, and San Jose, Calif., as well as Spokane and Everett, Wash.
“I’ve been sick this whole tour, and if I keep pushing, I’m gonna end up in the hospital,” Lavigne said, adding that throat and upper respiratory troubles have plagued her since she was 10. “I get like three colds a year, and half the time it totally fucks up my throat. It’s been like this ever since that time in the church basement with that janitor.”
Asked what “time” she was referring to, Lavigne said, “That time. The first time. Fuck, do I have to spell it out for you?”
After Lavigne announced the cancellations, many in the media accused her – or, specifically, her management team – of nixing the shows because the Best Damn Tour has been losing money since it began March 5 in Victoria.
“It is a nice excuse, but if you ask me, the shows were canceled because of poor ticket sales,” wrote GabbyBabble.com, expressing the feelings of hundreds of news and gossip outlets. “Great job Avril! You now disappointed the few fans that actually wanted to see you!”
Lavigne said, “Okay, A: everybody wants to see me, and B: it hasn’t been fucking losing money. They keep paying me and the band. Everybody’s eating. We got money for gas and beer. How can you say it’s losing money?”
Informed that her accounting firm, Rosswatch, Lieberman, Banks and Swahili, estimate that the tour has lost some $1.6 million in its first 59 days, Lavigne said, “Well shit, if you’re gonna go by what those guys say.”
But Lavigne still has plenty of followers who will support her to the end, no matter what she does or doesn’t do. Like the fan who posted this message on a Yahoo! message board in March:
“OMG ILOVE YOU AVRIL YOUR MY ROMODLE IWENT TO YOUR CONCERT YOU ARE I CANT EVEN SAY WHAT U R YOUR SOOO GOOD”
“My fans are the greatest, brightest most supportive fans in the world – and anywhere else,” Lavigne said. “And I’m coming back for them and prove they did the right thing by making me their number one motherfucking princess.”
Lavigne’s next scheduled performance is May 26 in Glasgow Scotland, when she kicks off the 33-date European leg of her tour.
