Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan to Play Ontario Pop-Punk Festival All Your Friends Fest 2025
The festival booked by Republic Live will return to Burl's Creek, Ontario, for a second year on June 28 and 29, 2025, with the first two acts bringing some serious 2002 energy.
Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan will play the second edition of Canadian pop-punk festival All Your Friends Fest.
After an inaugural year headlined by Billy Talent and Fall Out Boy, the festival will return to Ontario's Burl's Creek on June 28 and 29, 2025 — and its coming with two Canadian heavyweights.
Lavigne will headline the second night of the festival, with Quebec pop-rockers Simple Plan as direct support.
Those announcements cap off a big year for Lavigne, who released her first greatest hits album and earned serious buzz for her Glastonbury set (where some complained she should have been a headliner), as well as being appointed to the Order of Canada.
The news comes as Lavigne announces a 2025 extension of her Greatest Hits tour, which saw her playing classics like "Sk8r Boi" and "Complicated" across the continent. The 2025 tour will feature 19 dates, with Simple Plan joining as support as well as Fefe Dobson (who played 2024's inaugural All Your Friends Fest). That includes dates at London, Ontario's Canada Life Place on June 3 and Fallsview Casino Resort in Niagara Falls, Ontario on June 5. More info here.
“I can’t wait to play All Your Friends Fest at Burl’s Creek," says Avril Lavigne in a statement. "It’s going to be a blast playing with so many of my friends at a festival so close to home and I hope to see you all there."
Lavigne and Simple Plan will bring some serious 2002 nostalgia to the stage — both acts released their debut record that year — while the headliner for the festival's first night is still to come.
All Your Friends Fest debuted this year as a new initiative from Republic Live, the Canadian company that also puts on Boots & Hearts country festival. In its first year, legacy names like Jimmy Eat World and All-American Rejects played alongside a handful of rising artists like Grandson and LØLØ. Lavigne appeared at this year's Boots & Hearts to perform a surprise duet with Nate Smith, which makes her the rare Canadian act to cross over at both Burl's Creek genre fests.
"We are thrilled to have Canadian icon and global pop-punk superstar Avril Lavigne headline our Sunday night, kicking off the first weekend of summer in unforgettable style," says Republic Live Co-Founder Eva Dunford.
Simple Plan are also celebrating a monumental year, with an upcoming Prime Video documentary commemorating the band's 25th anniversary.
It's not an easy landscape to be launching a new festival, as many arts organizations face rising overhead costs and lost sponsorships, but All Your Friends seems to have had success tapping into the ongoing pop-punk revival, as well as a surge in nostalgia-focused festivals like Las Vegas' emo-pop festival When We Were Young. Acts like My Chemical Romance, Blink-182, Sum 41 and Green Day have also been among the most popular arena and festival acts this year.
With a headliner like Avril Lavigne for the second edition just before Canada Day, it seems like All Your Friends is well-poised to keep making noise.
Tickets and camping passes go on sale December 5 at 10 a.m. here.
