Lavigne's new image, show seem by the numbers

Avril Lavigne, the sneering pop-punk princess who burst onto the music scene six years ago with two monster singles ("Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi") and middle fingers blazing, was nowhere to be found on Friday.

The Lavigne who did appear at Allstate Arena was neither bratty nor contentious. With her blond locks and bubbly stage persona, the 23-year-old Canadian who wed Sum-41's Deryck Whibley in 2006 appeared to have been replaced by a spirited high school cheerleader. Her between-song banter, which sounded as if it were pieced together in a boardroom, proved as robotic and hollow as her newfound grin. "I want to dedicate this to anyone who's been a fan of mine since Day One," she offered at one point, punctuating her statement with the toothy faux smile of a beauty pageant contestant.