Kuala Lumpur, Aug 30 (IANS) Canadian pop-rock star Avril Lavigne’s concert held amid protests by Islamist youths went off peacefully before an estimated 15,000 crowd, with sections of the media saying that the controversy was unwarranted. “All the fuss over Canadian teen pop-rock star Lavigne’s concert proved completely unfounded as she belted out a measured performance,” the Star newspaper said Saturday.

“It was a pop concert all right, with no element of a rowdy punk-rock performance as feared by some quarters who had objected to her coming here,” it said.

Parti Islami SeMalaysia (PAS) youth leaders had criticised the timing of the concert, claiming that the culture Lavigne promoted was not appropriate especially so close to Merdeka day - Malaysia’s independence day.

“But all that steam was lost in the night as Lavigne entertained the estimated 15,000 crowd with songs from her three albums, bursting into life in typical fashion for several hit numbers.”

There were many who stood in raincoats to watch the star do her thing. Among those who turned up was MP from Kelana Jaya, Loh Gwo Burne, who is from the main opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR).

Lavigne was dressed casually in jeans and a black T-shirt as she took to the stage with her first song “Girlfriend”, and only had one costume change, into a grey T-shirt, in the one-and-a-half-hour show.

“The crowd remained excited throughout, singing and dancing along to Lavigne’s entire 17-song set.”

Earlier, about 2,000 flyers were distributed in protest of the performance of the star’s The Best Damn Tour concert at Stadium Merdeka.

The flyers were distributed to Muslim youths who were about to enter the stadium for the concert that started at 8 p.m.

PAS youth chief Kamarulzaman Mohammad said the flyers were to explain the concept of entertainment in Islam.