WINNIPEG - So much for our happy ending.

Pop princess Avril Lavigne may have punk'd the paparazzi recently -- (by tricking them into thinking she was pregnant, clever girl) -- but there wasn't a whole lot to be amused about during her lacklustre show at MTS Centre last night.

To be fair, Avril's "Best Damn Tour" (those are her words, not ours) is far from the atrocity some reviewers would have you believe.

And while the gig was a definite improvement over her last local appearance, it's still clear she needs a few more years of touring under her belt before her live shows match the infectious punk-infused polish of her studio work.

Not that the hordes of screaming teens in attendance last night cared one bit, mind you.

From the moment Avril took to the stage -- clad in a funky jacket-skirt-and-leggings combo, and wearing almost as much eyeliner as Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner -- the kids went crazy, waving their cellphones and glow sticks in the air and generally treating the pint-sized pride of Napanee, Ont., as if she were visiting royalty.

It's easy to understand the adulation. Over the years, Lavigne has proved far more tolerable than many of her pop-tart counterparts, but still, the concert was not without its share of hiccups.

Things started off strong with the cheerleader anthem Girlfriend -- (forget about The Rubinoos, who tried to sue her for plagiarism; Avril owes Toni Basil some royalties for that one) -- and stayed that way for follow-up I Can Do Better, which found her executing some marching-band moves with her backup dancers at centre stage.

But for Complicated -- the uber-addictive pop gem that first introduced Avril to the world -- she chose to sit placidly on a mini-staircase, sapping the song of its energy while rushing some of the lyrics.

She fared better on My Happy Ending (for which she strapped on an electric guitar), and When You're Gone, which she performed on a grand piano. And even though her vocals sound much lot stronger than they did the last time she was here, she was still -- to quote American Idol judge Randy Jackson -- a bit "pitchy" in places.

A series of slower songs caused the show's middle section to drag, but after a quick costume change, Lavigne was back on track, cavorting before some jailbait big-screen footage for Hot, channelling Cranberries' frontlady Dolores O'Riordan on Losing My Grip. and working the crowd into a frenzy with the rocker Everything Back But You.

Hell, she even procured a hot pink drum set from out of nowhere, acquitting herself admirably while pounding out the rhythms for Runaway and -- what's this? -- a cover of the aforementioned Toni Basil hit Mickey.

Best of all, she wisely chose to close with Sk8er Boi, another ridiculously catchy tune we've always had a soft spot for, if only 'cuz we don't know anyone else who could pull off rhyming "skater boy" with "later, boy." On second thought, maybe we were wrong about that happy ending, after all.

Earlier in the evening, Boston combo Boys Like Girls got pulses racing with a half-hour set of pop-punk, most of which fell somewhere between Sum 41 territory (read: not that good) and the realm occupied by more accomplished acts like Jimmy Eats World.