Forget about painting the town red — Avril Lavigne wants to paint the town pink on her forthcoming world tour, which kicks off March 5. "Yes! The theme is pink!" she squealed. "The theme is like a party!"

So on her stage, Lavigne will have a pink drum kit and a pink piano — and she'll be playing both of them this time around. "I play the drums, I play the piano and of course I play the guitar," she said. "There's a lot going on."

But just because Lavigne's third outing — called the Best Damn Tour after her album and next single, "The Best Damn Thing" — is pretty in pink doesn't mean it will be bubblegum. Lavigne is planning her biggest production ever — with backup dancers, outfit changes and a moving stage. "I've never played on a stage like this before," she said. "I've got a big stage. I've got stairs, and I'm coming out of the stage, and I got these LED screens behind me. I just wanted the show to be more showy. I wanted to take it to the next level."

To make sure there's a next level for intimacy as well, Lavigne plans a "coming-down" moment, a stripped-down acoustic session in the middle of the set, just "me performing by myself." She also plans to talk more while she's onstage, something she hasn't done much on her past two tours, and refuses to wear a microphone on her head so it doesn't seem artificial.

"It's very rockin'," she said, "but it's just there's more visually to see, a lot going on. I have to perform every single night, so it's like, I don't know if I want a mellow set, you know? I want a crazy, fun, rockin'-out-with-everyone set, so I've got a ton of people onstage with me. It's still very me, but it's just, I've grown."

And as the tour grows, moving through North America, Europe and Asia, fans will see if Lavigne's language skills have grown with her, as she plans to try to sing her hit "Girlfriend" in different languages for different countries (since that's how she recorded the song). "I may try to sing some of the easier ones live," she said. "I think Japanese I can pull off. I'm not sure about the other ones. It was almost impossible to record because there were so many words and more syllables and I had to squash them in, so I don't know. We'll see.

"There's a lot of stuff that we have to work out and a lot of preparation to do," she added. "So we've just been hard at work doing that. And when you work really hard at something, well, hard work pays off. So the show is going to be great. I feel like I'm at my best and this will be my best performance so far. I can't wait!"

Avril Lavigne's North American Best Damn Tour dates, according to her Web site:

· 3/5 - Victoria, BC @ Save On Foods Memorial Centre
· 3/7 - Vancouver, BC @ General Motors Place
· 3/8 - Kamloops, BC @ Interior Savings Centre
· 3/9 - Kelowna, BC @ Prospera Place
· 3/11 - Prince George, BC @ CN Centre
· 3/12 - Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
· 3/13 - Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome
· 3/15 - Regina, SK @ Brandt Centre
· 3/16 - Saskatoon, SK @ Credit Union Centre
· 3/18 - Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre
· 3/20 - Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
· 3/21 - Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena
· 3/22 - Auburn Hills, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
· 3/25 - Pittsburgh, PA @ A.J. Palumbo Center
· 3/26 - Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center at Cleveland State University
· 3/28 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Borgata
· 3/29 - Buffalo, NY @ HSBC Arena
· 3/30 - East Rutherford, NJ @ Izod Center
· 4/1 - Boston, MA @ Agganis Arena
· 4/2 - Montreal, QC @ Bell Center
· 4/3 - Ottawa, Ontario @ Scotia Bank Place
· 4/7 - Toronto, Ontario @ Air Canada Centre
· 4/8 - Kingston, Ontario @ Kingston Regional Sports & Entertainment Centre
· 4/9 - London, Ontario @ John Labatt Centre
· 4/11 - Uniondale, NY @ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
· 4/12 - Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena
· 4/13 - Manchester, NH @ Verizon Wireless Arena
· 4/15 - Fairfax, VA @ Patriot Center
· 4/18 - Atlanta, GA @ Phillips Arena
· 4/19 - Tampa, FL @ Ford Amphitheatre
· 4/20 - West Palm Beach, FL @ Sound Advice Amphitheatre
· 4/22 - Biloxi, MS @ Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
· 4/24 - Hidalgo, TX @ Dodge Arena
· 4/25 - Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Pavilion
· 4/26 - Dallas, TX @ Smirnoff Music Centre
· 4/27 - San Antonio, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
· 4/29 - Las Vegas, NV @ The Pearl at the Palms Hotel and Casino
· 4/30 - San Diego, CA @ Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl
· 5/2 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
· 5/3 - Anaheim, CA @ Honda Center
· 5/4 - Los Angeles, CA @ Gibson Amphitheatre
· 5/6 - Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl
· 5/7 - San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilions
· 5/9 - Spokane, WA @ Spokane Arena
· 5/10 - Everett, WA @ Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center