Olivia Rodrigo treated gig-goers to a cover of idol Avril Lavigne’s 00s’ hit ‘Complicated’ at the opening concert of her ‘Sour Tour’.
The 19-year-old singer paid tribute to the pop-punk queen with the rendition of her 2002 smash hit at her show at Portland’s Theater of the Clouds on Tuesday night (05.04.22).
Before performing the cover, Olivia said: “This next song is a song I really love by the pop-punk princess herself.”
As well as storming through tracks from her chart-topping debut studio album, ‘Sour’, including ‘brutal’, ‘drivers license’, ‘happier’, ‘deja vu’, and an encore of ‘good 4 u’, the teen phenomenon also belted out a rendition of Veruca Salt’s ‘Seether’.
The pair have been getting to know each other this awards season, and Avril recently credited Olivia with reviving “rock-and-roll on the charts”.
The ‘Bite Me’ rocker presented the ‘good 4 u’ hitmaker with the Songwriter of the Year prize at the Variety Hitmakers ceremony recently, and she hailed her record-breaking LP for helping to bring punk rock back into the mainstream.
Avril said at the bash in Los Angeles: “This year we were introduced to a new artist whose debut album marked a major return for rock-and-roll on the charts.
“From ‘Driver’s License’ to ‘Good 4 You’ to ‘Deja Vu,’ Olivia’s singles from her album ‘Sour’ are part of the collective psyche of 2021, and she wrote every single one of them.”
And Olivia thanked Avril, 37, for inspiring her.
She gushed: “I am such a massive fan of you, I look up to you so much, so this is so surreal for me. Thank you for the love and support.
“I’ve been writing songs since I was like five years old and my favourite part about all of this is that feeling of writing a song that perfectly captures how I feel better than any conversation could have. So to accept an award for songwriting is really meaningful to me.”
The setlist for Olivia’s Portland show was:
‘brutal’
‘jealousy, jealousy’
‘drivers license’
‘Complicated’ (Avril Lavigne cover)
‘hope ur ok’ (Acoustic)
‘enough for you’ / ‘1 step forward, 3 steps back’ (Acoustic)
‘happier’
‘Seether’ (Veruca Salt cover)
‘favorite crime’
‘traitor’
‘deja vu’
Encore:
‘good 4 u’