There are certain songs you expect to hear at a Carrie Underwood concert.
“Before He Cheats.”
“Jesus, Take the Wheel.”
“Blown Away.”
Maybe some Guns N’ Roses if Carrie’s feeling particularly rock-and-roll.
Limp Bizkit was not on our bingo card.
Underwood played the Velocity Festival in Dyersville, Iowa, over Labor Day weekend, and apparently decided that sharing a bill with Creed and Shinedown gave her permission to turn part of her country set into a 2000s rock-radio fever dream.
She covered “Break Stuff” by Limp Bizkit.
Then “One Step Closer” by Linkin Park.
“Scars” by Papa Roach.
And “Shine” by Collective Soul.
At one point Carrie even flipped her hat backward for “Break Stuff.”
Fred Durst would presumably approve.
The whole thing is considerably less random if you’ve followed Carrie for a while.
Underwood may be one of the biggest country singers of her generation, but she’s never hidden the fact that she loves hard rock.
She’s performed with Guns N’ Roses.
She’s sung with Aerosmith.
She’s appeared with Mötley Crüe.
And “Sweet Child o’ Mine” has popped up in her live shows for years.
She included that one in Iowa too.
More recently, Carrie collaborated with Shinedown, and she says that experience helped inspire her to lean even harder into the rock side of her musical personality during the festival.
Which leads to the obvious question:
Would Carrie Underwood ever make a rock album?
Apparently she isn’t ruling it out.
Underwood has said she loves the freedom and energy she gets from rock music and has hinted that a full project in that direction could someday be fun.
And honestly, it might work.
Carrie’s voice has always been considerably bigger and more aggressive than the average country vocal.
“Before He Cheats” isn’t exactly whispering.
Neither is “Church Bells.”
Put heavier guitars underneath that voice and you probably don’t have to change much else.
Still, there’s something wonderfully strange about imagining the same woman who sang “Jesus, Take the Wheel” walking around backstage deciding:
You know what this set needs?
Limp Bizkit.
We’re not arguing.
