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Last December, pop singer Avril Lavigne headlined and helped sell out Star 94's Jingle Jam at Gwinnett Arena. There, thousands of screaming teen girls yelled, "Hey! Hey! You! You! I can be your girlfriend!"

Just four months later, she's coming back to Atlanta — this time at Philips Arena, an even bigger venue.

Mark Liddell (ENLARGE)
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IN CONCERT Avril Lavigne and Boys Like Girls. $24.75-$54.50. 7 p.m. today. Philips Arena, 1 Philips Drive, downtown Atlanta. 404-878-3000, www.avrillavigne.com, www.philipsarena.com • Map it and review it. WHAT'S ON AVRIL'S IPOD "I listen to Rod Stewart, the Eagles, the Beach Boys, stuff my parents used to listen to. I like jazz music and stuff like that when I'm trying to eat dinner and have some wine. When I'm in the car, I listen to the radio. When I work out, it's hip-hop. But I don't listen to a ton of new stuff. The current stuff like Fergie and Rihanna, I catch that stuff on the radio." RELATED LINKS: Q&A: Avril's Atlanta tattoo Feist at Masquerade QUIZ: Feist hardly the only celeb doing commercials

The gambit has not resulted in stellar sales relative to the arena itself, which can easily seat 12,000 under a typical stage setup. There were still plenty of tickets available as of early Thursday afternoon for tonight's concert both on the general admission floor and in the lower level reserved area not far from the stage. Ticketmaster even is offering a special "four for $99" deal on its Web site.

Another sign of slow demand: Ticket broker Stubhub.com had only four Lavigne seats for sale Thursday vs. several hundred for the sold-out Bon Jovi concert April 30 at Philips.

Holli Mattison at tour promoter Live Nation said, per policy, the company can't release ticket sale figures.

Pollstar, which tracks gross revenues for concert dates, relies on the voluntary release of information from tour promoters and has yet to receive any Lavigne data from her U.S. dates so far. (Her U.S. arena tour started March 21 in Chicago.)

Lavigne, 23, has been a consistent hit-maker on top-40 radio for seven years thanks to three hit albums and seven top-40 singles including "Complicated," "I'm With You" and her biggest hit to date, last year's propulsive "Girlfriend." But obviously, her repertoire isn't as deep as upcoming Philips Arena headliners such as Bon Jovi or Bruce Springsteen.

Rob Roberts, operations manager at Q100, a top-40 station that has played her biggest hits, said the slackening economy doesn't help.

"I think she's at an important transitional stage in her career," Roberts said. "She's moving from angry young girl to angry young woman. She got married, too. That can take the edge off the anger or give you a whole new batch of 'I hate you' songs."

In a phone interview this week, Lavigne said she's more "rock and roll glam" now vs. that tomboy pop punkster circa 2003. "A woman changes when she gets older," she said. "I now have more fun with fashion. I enjoy it. I'm a chick. A woman changes when she gets old. I have more fun with fashion. There's so much cool stuff there — bags, shoes, makeup."

She's even planning a personal line of clothing for Kohl's this summer in time for back to school. "Younger girls will wear it," Lavigne said. "It's going to be sexy and flattering. They'll be zebra, leopard prints in pink and black."