‘The most empowering tour’
Underwood’s plate is fuller than most. In addition to her family, she oversees her CALIA by Carrie Underwood brand for Dick’s Sporting Goods. She recently penned a healthy lifestyle book, “Find Your Path,” that will be available in 2020. Underwood will co-host the CMA Awards (with Reba Mcentire and Dolly Parton) on Nov. 13 on ABC. And, she’ll bring her “The Cry Pretty Tour 360” to Fedexforum in Memphis on Wednesday. Female duo Maddie & Tae and girl group Runaway June will open the show.
“I love it when I’m on stage with the other ladies,” Underwood said. “We do have a moment when we are all up there together, and I definitely feel very proud to be a woman in country music when I am on stage up there with them.”
The feeling is mutual. Maddie & Tae singer Maddie Marlow said taking the stage each night is “so amazing” and that Underwood’s tour has allowed the duo to perform in the largest venues of its career.
“Having giant crowds every single night is not something we’re used to,” Marlow said. “Over halfway through the tour, our confidence as entertainers and artists has skyrocketed. I think this tour is the most empowering tour we’ve been a part of. It has pushed us way past our comfort zones personally and professionally
Where: Fedexforum, 191 Beale St. When: 7 p.m. Wednesday Tickets: www.ticketmaster.com
as entertainers and singers. I’ve just been feeling super grateful.”
Underwood’s “The Cry Pretty Tour 360” takes what the singer started with her “The Storyteller Tour: Stories in the Round” in 2016 and builds on it. “The Storyteller Tour” was the first time Underwood designed a tour with her stage in the middle of the arena. The setup allows her to sell tickets on every side of the stage, enabling a stronger connection with audiences. She offers standing-room-only general admission around the base to bring fans even closer.
“We make sure I can see as many people as possible in that arena,” she explained. “That’s important to me. I love being able to legitimately look in people’s eyes while I’m singing to them. We are making music, and we do what we do to connect with people. We need to physically be able to interact with them as well and see them and have our moments with them.”
The configuration presents challenges, she admitted, including that a portion of the arena is always at her back. That’s where her eightpiece band steps in. The structure gives her players room to spread out and enables them to interact with her audience while she faces other parts of the crowd.
‘Carrie’s biggest tour ever’
Underwood’s two-hour show includes many of her biggest hits such as “Blown Away,” “Before He Cheats” and “Cry Pretty,” as well as a tribute to generations of country women with help from Maddie & Tae and Runaway June. Runaway June’s Jennifer Wayne said the experience has changed their lives.
“Really for a couple of years, (she has) been supporting us and tweeting our lyrics,” she explained. “We have a song that’s (top 5 on the charts), and I don’t think that would happen without her. People are paying attention now, and I feel like she has put a spotlight on all of us.”
“The Cry Pretty Tour 360” utilizes 36 projectors, 19 video projection screens, 15 stage elevators and more than 400 moving lights to create a spectacle that leaves a lasting impression. Throughout the set, Underwood plays acoustic and electric guitar, piano and percussion and executes five wardrobe changes.
By the end of the tour, Underwood will have taken the show — her family in tow — to more than 55 arenas across the U.S. and Canada.
“This is Carrie’s biggest tour ever,” said Debra Rathwell, senior vice president of global touring at AEG Presents. “It isn’t just the size and scope of her brilliantly designed in-the-round stage presentation, but it is also her enormous talent, the full body of her work and her command of the stage. Carrie has arrived at that moment in time where she can take her place alongside all the ‘big girl’ country music superstars like Shania Twain, Dolly Parton, Faith Hill, Tammy Wynette (and) Patsy Cline.”
See CARRIE, Page 18A