Review: Carrie Underwood mesmerizes Reno audience | www.rgj.com | Reno Gazette-Journal
Review: Carrie Underwood mesmerizes Reno audience
BY VICTOR CALDERON •
vcalderon@rgj.com • May 20, 2008
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Country music superstar Carrie Underwood rocked a full house Monday night at the Reno Events Center with a mix of current and older hits, while crooner Josh Turner got the night started right with a fun set.
Drawing a crowd that included families, couples and well-dressed twenty-somethings, Underwood performed 20 songs with many fan-favorites and most of the tracks from her recent release “Carnival Ride”, which is also the name of her tour.
For her introduction, the crowd was treated to a video of Underwood in a desert shown on a large center screen and two smaller side screens. The video was well chosen for her stop in northern Nevada.
Underwood kicked off her set with the boot-stomper “Flat On the Floor” followed by the mesmerizing “Wasted.”
After a few songs, fans were treated with a laser light show while Underwood headed back stage to change from a white tank top and jeans to a blue dress for “Jesus, Take the Wheel.” It was one of two costume changes for her on the night, changing later between songs into a hot pink top and jeans.
Underwood came to Reno fresh off her second consecutive top female vocalist trophy Sunday at the Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas. She said, like one of her song titles, that “Crazy Dreams” do come true.
Underwood sang a medley of four songs from her debut album “Some Hearts” before she belted out a high energy rendition of her latest chart topper “Last Name”, about a one-night fling gone wrong.
Throughout the evening, Underwood made extensive use of a long ramp to get closer to fans in the middle of the arena floor, as she did during “Don’t Forget to Remember Me.”
During “All-American Girl,” the screens showed the music video where Underwood plays many roles, including a bride, a firefighter and a TV news anchor.
She concluded her show with a cover of the Guns N’ Roses hit “Paradise City” and “Before He Cheats.”
Turner’s preceding 45-minute set was a shorter mix of hits including the aptly-named “Firecracker” and love ballads “Another Try” and “Your Man”. His deep baritone was met with shrieks from his many female fans in the audience.
But the evening belonged to Underwood, the best-selling American Idol winner, who will perform Wednesday for the season 7 finale show on Fox. On Monday, she showed Reno why she is the queen of young country music leading a group of singers including Miranda Lambert and Taylor Swift.
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