Review of Special

Usually I don't review shows here, but I feel a need to review this one that aired on Sunday, June 8, 2003 on abc family channel. The show was "Avril Lavigne: Anything But Ordinary". I have mixed feelings about this show. First, it was based on a concert tour in London earlier this year. Second, it was part concert intermixed with interview sessions in black and white. All the good songs were featured in the first half of this hour long special leaving the last half hour with second rate songs (or future releases). The interview sessions were interesting, but since it was a self-proclaimed monologue it played out more like a therapy session, where we (the viewers) were the therapists.

All seemed like it was going to be light and fluffy, until the last 10 minutes or so. This is when the show took a strong emotional turn when Avril had discussed the death of her grandfather that happened earlier in the day of the concert being featured in the special. The emotional song "Tomorrow" was her dedication to her grandfather and was sung with such emotion that you could see the tears building up in her eyes. When she finished the song, she thanked the crowd, started crying, turned around and was comforted by her band members. This was such an emotional moment that I even cried myself. If anyone doesn't believe that this girl is for real, then they should watch the last 10 minutes of this special. For anyone who labels this girl as weird, punk, or otherwise will certainly feel differently after watching this show. This girl is for real and deserves a good long career, no matter how she feels about the world around her. In some ways, I have to agree with her in this special about her feelings. At only 18, this girl know reality and knows how to express her emotions; she's not afraid to cry and be tough at the same time! My rating is an 8 on a 1 to 10 scale.