3/7/2019: Carrie Underwood: 'Cry Pretty' tour
I got asked by my mate Mark a few weeks previous if I fancied going to a Carrie Underwood gig at Manchester Arena. To be honest I hadn't a clue who she was. It's Country music he told me. I thought, hmm not sure about this one but told him that I'd go. So I watched a few of her tracks on YouTube and thought that she was a great singer and was looking forward to the gig.
So I got picked up and we make our way to Manchester. Mark had Country Hits UK - a digital radio station - playing on his car stereo. They were over in the US and were talking about the Carrie Underwood gig in Manchester. They had followed that up with playing one of her tracks.
I was quick off the mark, "no pun intended", and found the radio station on Twitter I sent a tweet to them:
https://twitter.com/paulgannon/status/1146461506411880448?s=19
The next minute, they'd replied. I was well chuffed 😁
https://twitter.com/countryhitsuk/status/1146461730324791298?s=19
I do like a bit of self-promotion so I cheekily tweeted them back asking if we could get a mention. And put a link to my site 😆
https://twitter.com/paulgannon/status/1146462046432694274?s=19
We arrived in Manchester, parked up and went for some food. I looked at Twitter a little later and noticed that they'd replied again.
https://twitter.com/countryhitsuk/status/1146466698146570241?s=19
We weren't listening now, so who knows if we got a mention although I'd like to think we did. 😊 After a quick bite to eat we made our way to Manchester Arena. Once inside there were people with a frame taking pictures of attendees. Me, being me, and also being giddy as a kipper I was straight up to them and posing with their frame. It was only the aforementioned Country Hits UK! Buzzing I was!
We made our way to our seats - which believe me - could not be better. The view of the stage was amazing. The warm-up band started as we got to our seats. They are called "The Shires". Like Carrie Underwood, I had no idea. They were very good and I danced and jigged to their country music. I was surprised at how much I was enjoying myself even though I've not listened to too much country music in my life…
They finished their set and then was a 15 minute or so interval. (Didn't actually time it, it could have been more, could have been less?)
Carrie and her band started and right from the off, it was absolutely brilliant. I sat; I stood; I danced; I played air drums and air-keyboard. What I couldn't do, at any point… Which everyone else was doing… Was sing along to any of the songs. I didn't know the music, didn't know the words. I still loved the whole gig though.
Carrie has a pair of lungs on her! Blimey she can hold a note, and hold a note for a long time. Absolutely Amazing.
One of her songs has a rap in it, and because the rapper wasn't there she joked that she as not going to do the rap. Forgive me, but I can't remember the name of it. She performed the song with an audience member who has a story to tell. She told us about a girl who was struggling with a condition called ME and told us some of the symptoms. Then she started to sing the song and then this young girl burst on to the stage to rap and sing alongside Carrie. She was brilliant too. It was a lovely sight to see. Actually brought a tear to my eye.
So, lots more songs - some with audience participation - and after an encore, the night came to an end. My ears were ringing - and in fact, still are - and everyone made their way home.
All in all a fantastic evening.
Click to view photos.