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After rocking and grooving in Glastonbury, Carrie Underwood began finishing up the UK portion of her Cry Pretty tour, when she made her second to last stop in Manchester.
Launching right into her latest single Southbound, Carrie brought every bit of energy to the UK, wowing the crowd, song after song, even driving down Memory Lane with an eclectic mix of classic hits including Temporary Home, Flat On the Floor and Last Name.
Performing the majority of her latest album Cry Pretty, as effortlessly as few artists can, Carrie paused for a brief moment to reflect on her career, and how it all began in 2005 with taking a chance and trying out for American Idol, which carved the path for all of her accolades that would follow.
It’s not hard to see how far Carrie has come, from a country powerhouse, all the way to her latest album Cry Pretty, which experiments wth various genres such as pop and R&B including her powerful and motivational track Champion, featuring rapper Ludacris.
When Carrie performed Champion, she brought up a young girl suffering from ME, to fill in for Ludacris, it was an energetic and inspirational moment in the night, perfectly capturing the moving atmosphere of the whole evening.
Underwood mentioned that this show was her first time playing in Manchester, and promised that it would not be her last, calling the UK as a whole, her Temporary Home.
The entire night was a highlight, but the top highlights were performances of Blown Away, perfectly showcasing Underwood’s talent and her vocal runs, Drinking Alone, which featured a sultry, jazz backdrop. More notables were Undo It (Much like Blown Away before it, vocals on immense display, and certainly in the upper echelon of Carrie’s songs) and her emotionally heavy and intimate rendition of The Bullet.
The Shires were the support act for Carrie’s UK shows, their country tunes excellently set the tone for the night, their voices go together so beautifully, highlights of their opening set include the emotional track Daddy’s Little Girl, Guilty, and their gorgeous cover of Islands In the Stream.
It was an immersive and thrilling experience seeing Carrie Underwood live, and one that couldn’t be recommended enough.
Purple Revolver rating: 4.5/5