Summer Sessions 2024: Avril Lavigne

Bedford Summer Sessions:

The Summer Sessions series has become essential viewing up and down the country, putting on large scale outdoor concerts for music lovers in towns and cities which wouldn't normally get them. Bedford is one of these, with Summer Sessions taking over Bedford Park to bring some of music's biggest names to the town. Last night I was lucky enough to be at the Bedford Summer Sessions opening night, where Canadian pop-punk legend Avril Lavigne delivered a career-spanning set. Avril is followed tonight by pop-icon Jess Glynne, before Sir. Tom Jones, Pete Tong Ibiza Classics, James and Nile Rodgers & CHIC take over the park next week. These concerts are place to make life-long memories both for audience and artists, and nothing showed that more than last night 

Avril Lavigne:

After two phenomenal support acts the crowd was now fully electric, eagerly anticipating the moment Avril Lavigne would walk out in Bedford. That sentence sounds crazy, but that is the beauty of the Summer Session, they make extraordinary situations like this happen. Avril's live band came out first playing an introduction, even further building up the tension in the crowd, so by the time Avril appeared atop a stack of pink speaker/screens belting out the first lines of 'Girlfriend", the crowd went into an absolute frenzy. To the credit of both Avril and the crowd, this energy level did not drop from that point onwards.

The setlist was perfection, showcasing a career spanning selection of songs from debut album 'Let Go' all the way up to her most recent record 'Love Sux'. 'Girlfriend' was followed immediately by 'What the Hell' and Complicated". The fact songs as big as these can all be played together right at the start only goes to prove just how deep a discography Avril Lavigne has.

Avril's stage presence was superb, interacting with audience members throughout the night, and covering more ground of the stage than seemed humanly possible. She had the audience eating out the palm of her hands from start to finish, with huge singalongs constantly taking place. One of the memorable performances came when Avril invited several audience members up on stage, as well as support act phem, to cover the iconic blink-182 track 'All the Small Things'. The main set was pop-punk personified, showing just why Avril is and inspiration to so many upcoming rock musicians nowadays. 'Sk8er Boi' ended the main section in the most ferocious way possible, with pyro galore.

The encore felt a complete tonal shift in the most stunning way. Avril, back atop the speaker stack, walked out in a long white coat and trail that floated up like waves to perform the most beautiful version of 'Head Above Water'. Rousing renditions of 'When You're Gone' and 'I'm With You' brought the show to an end, providing the perfect way to close out night that will never leave the memory of anyone in attendance.

The Lottery Winners:

The evening's special guests were Leigh legends the Lottery Winners, who are slowly taking over the UK live music industry, and you only need to spend a minute watching them to understand why. From the moment lead singer Thom did a fake second walk on stage to get the crowd even more hyped, the entirety of Bedford Park was sold. When an act can have you in stitches before even playing their first note, you know you are in for a good time

This is actually my second time reviewing the Lottery Winners, with the last time being at Cambridge Junction. That venue is an 850 capacity, and during my review I stated that a Lottery Winners live show feels much too 'larger-than-life to be in such a room. Well last night they played to 17,500 people, and it still didn't feel enough for them. As a frontman Thom has more charisma than any I have ever seen, and his band mates are three mind-blowing musicians at the top of their game (Katie, Rob and Joe). Together they are destined to headline the biggest stages

As much as a Lottery Winners show can sometimes drift into a chaotic Thom Rylance stand up set (would have it no other way!), this by no means the other members are lost in the background. The four musicians complement each other perfectly, bouncing off one another throughout the show, with Katie and Rob in particular having plenty of time centre stage. Katie's vocals were as good as ever, leading the choruses on several songs like 'You're Not Alone' and 'Burning House, whilst Rob took the limellight leading singalongs to 'Much Better'. With that being said, Thom's hilarity was still on full show. This was most notable when he caught sight of the event's BSL interpreter, realising he could make her sign whatever he said, resulting in 17,500 people learning how to sign "Big Juicy Boobies" and "Micro Penis'.

By the time their set ended the only people in Bedford Park who hadn't fallen in love with the Lottery Winners, were those already in love with them. Their music is exceptional, and their stage presence takes it to a whole other stratosphere. They are a must-see act for all music lovers, regardless of genre

Phem: 

Just over a year since supporting Avril Lavigne on her Love Sux European tour, phem was back supporting Avril at Bedford Summer Sessions, and absolutely made good on the opportunity. Opening with her song American beauty phem immediately had the crowd on her side, all of whom were ready to embrace this alt.pop brilliance with open arms

phem was as energetic as they come on stage, mastering her way through her set with a palpable electricity. She is joined on stage by
multi-talented musician Max D'Anda, who between songs would switch from playing guitar and drums. phem told the audience that they "have never performed her songs in this way before" [as a duo], but for someone who had never seen her before, you seriously couldn't tell. Max matched phem's energy throughout, kicking the songs into a whole new gear. However, Max was not the only multi-talented musician on stage, as proved by phem when she stepped up to the drum-kit for a rousing cover of Wheatus' 'Teenage Dirtbag'.

Playing a cover song during a support slot is always a sure-fire way to get a big crowd singalong going, and sure enough Bedford Park
responded in fine voice, however the rest of the set proved phem has more than enough of her own brilliant music to get equally loud reactions. As each song passed the crowd seemed to fall deeper and deeper in love with her music, most notably when showcasing her newest single donuts

During her set phem questioned whether this had become the longest set she'd ever played, and that genuinely blew my mind. phem has all the talent and charisma of a bona fide headline artist, and there can be no doubt that she well be headlining shows this size herself in the not so distant future

By the time phem's set came to a close, she had cemented herself as a firm crowd favourite, and it was clear to see why. Her unique brand of earworm alt-pop feels so distinctive to herself and allows her personality to shine through with each song. She has incredible live vocals and commands a stage with conviction.