By Mike McKenney, Rock At Night New England
Live Review: Carrie Underwood with Special Guest: Jimmie Allen-Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Connecticut-Saturday February 11, 2023
The second leg of Carrie Underwoods’ highly celebrated The Denim & Rhinestones Tour played to a packed Mohegan Sun Arena Saturday night. Complete with all the bells and whistles, this huge production has everything deserving of a Carrie Underwood concert.
Since her 2005 American Idol win, Carrie Underwood has taken the Country crossover world by storm.
The multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, film, and as a New York Times bestselling author and successful entrepreneur. She has had 28 #1 singles and has sold more than 66 million records. A proud member of the Grand Ole Opry, Carrie Underwood has won 25 CMT Music Awards and 17 American Music Awards. Carrie is the most-followed country artist on Instagram and most followed female country artist on Twitter and Facebook.
Jimmie Allen appears as a Special Guest throughout the tour and along with his great voice, showed his patience and professionalism by not skipping a beat when, due to a transportation delay, the final touches of the stage were still applied during his opening set.
The venue doors opened late due to the delay, and many fans were still finding their seats but Jimmie Allen got right down to business with “Best Shot”, “Freedom Was a Highway”, and “Make Me Want to”. Before leaving the stage, the generous Jimmie Allen took off his shirt and signed it before handing it to a thrilled young fan.
Carrie Underwood started with the opening song “Good Girl”, high in the air from a rising platform. “Burn” fittingly with real flames shooting up from the stage, while the climax was the high-flying Underwood soaring over the crowd on a swing/gyroscope while belting out “Ghost Story” and “Crazy Angels”.
While all the gadgetry and visuals may distract from some performers, Carrie Underwood still shines through all of it with her pitch-perfect vocals and high-energy maneuvering. Appearing and disappearing down hidden elevators, Carrie seemingly is everywhere at once, and always connected with her audience, even performing a few songs from a second stage for the fans in the back of the arena.
Carrie spun through a litany of her many award-winning hits “Jesus, Take the Wheel”, “Cry Pretty”, and “Something in the Water”, with an onscreen duet of Jason Aldean’s “If I Didn’t Love You” and “Denim & Rhinestones “ with Jimmie Allen.
She ended the night with a great cover of Guns N’ Roses’s “Welcome To The Jungle” and her own “Before He Cheats”.
“The Denim & Rhinestones Tour” continues through March with $1 from each ticket sold for THE DENIM & RHINESTONES TOUR contributed to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation which has been helping America’s heroes since 9/11 by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children and by building custom-designed smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders.
Carrie Underwood Setlist:
Good Girl
Church Bells
Undo It
Hate My Heart
Cowboy Casanova
If I Didn’t Love You
(Jason Aldean cover)
Wasted
She Don’t Know
Blown Away
Burn
Cry Pretty
Ghost Story
Two Black Cadillacs
Garden
Jesus, Take the Wheel
How Great Thou Art
Crazy Angels
Denim & Rhinestones
(with Jimmie Allen)
Flat on the Floor
Poor Everybody Else
Last Name
Something in the Water
Encore:
Welcome to the Jungle
(Guns N’ Roses cover)
Before He Cheats
PHOTO GALLERY
Mike McKenney is an award winning professional photographer and current New England Correspondent for Rock At Night magazine.
With his years of experience and passion for Concert Photography, Mike has photographed many of the famous acts in the world today.
Rock Icons such as Sting, Peter Gabriel, Dave Matthews, and Fleetwood Mac along with Country artist Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney,and Jason Aldean have all appeared before Mike’s camera.
"My goal is always to present the experience truthfully so fans can feel the energy and emotions the Artists convey. It’s a tremendous honor and responsibility to be allowed to create art while blending my two passions, music and photography”
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