Carrie Underwood Lives Out Her ‘Rockstar Dreams,’ Reprises Iconic ‘American Idol’ Performance On Guns N’ Roses Tour
”I was super nervous playing for another band’s crowd,” Underwood admitted.

Carrie Underwood; Photo by Jeff Johnson
Carrie Underwood delighted fans with a nostalgic reprise of an iconic cover she first performed on American Idol during the Guns N’ Roses tour kick off on Saturday evening (Aug. 6) at Croix-Bleue Medavie Stadium in Moncton, NB, Canada.
During her support slot on the first night of Guns N’ Roses’ massive 2023 World Tour, the country superstar reprised her Top 11 American Idol performance from Season 4, when she covered Heart’s “Alone” on the popular singing competition show.
Donning an all-black leather ensemble with silver accents, Underwood belted out the lyrics to the iconic rock hit, proving once again that she is one of the greatest powerhouse singers of this generation.
Underwood’s cover of the ‘80s power ballad became a fan-favorite moment from her time on Idol, which she later was crowned the winner of.
Throughout her 18-song set, Carrie Underwood also delivered performances of “Last Name,” “Undo It,” “Church Bells,” “Blown Away,” “Flat On The Floor,” “Somethin’ Bad,” and of course her chart-topping hit, “Before He Cheats.”
She also performed a handful of tunes from her upcoming project, Denim & Rhinestones (Deluxe Edition), including “Crazy Angels,” “Hate My Heart,” “Poor Everybody Else,” “Velvet Heartbreak” and “Out Of That Truck.”
In addition to performing her own hits and a cover of Heart, she delivered five other jaw-dropping rock covers, including Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation,” Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” Led Zeppelin’s “Rock And Roll” and Motörhead’s “Ace Of Spades.”
Underwood also joined the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame members for a pair of performances, including “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City,” both of which appear on Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite For Destruction.
Underwood was admittedly nervous to perform in front of an audience of rock fans rather than country fans.
“Just a country girl living out some rockstar dreams…I want to say a HUGE thanks to @gunsnroses for having us out on tour, as well as their amazing fans!” she wrote on Instagram. ”I was super nervous playing for another band’s crowd (of a completely different genre, no less) but you all made us feel so welcome!!!”
Ahead of the show, Underwood teased that she had “a lot of surprises” in store for her set.
“I wanted to be me, but I also wanted to bridge the gap between me and Guns N’ Roses a little bit, so we’re just having a blast with it,” she said of her setlist. “I’m doing some cover songs of some rock stuff that I love. I’m mashing up some of my songs with some other songs. We just look at it as an opportunity to be creative and get to do something we’ve never done before; just have a good time with it.”
She hopes her fans enjoy the chance to see a unique show from her.
“My fans that are at the shows will see things that they’ve never seen and hear things that they’ve never heard in a really cool way, and then also even if there’s people out there who have no idea what I do, hopefully, they’ll really enjoy seeing us before Guns N’ Roses and just have fun with us too,” she shared. “So, it’s an opportunity for new creative things to happen, and I’m excited about it.”
The opportunity to tour with Guns N’ Roses is something Carrie Underwood doesn’t take lightly. She has been a fan of the iconic rock band for quite some time.
“I think the things I look forward to most are obviously, like watching their show (laughs) and being around them, but it’s just such a fun vibe,” Underwood shared with her record label prior to the tour kick off. “Their fans are absolutely incredible and so supportive and just have been so much fun, everything that I’ve seen from them.”
The Oklahoma native and Guns N’ Roses’ frontman Axl Rose, who Underwood previously dubbed a “dream duet partner,” first joined forces for a star-studded duet during Underwood’s headlining set at Stagecoach in 2022.
She also teamed up with the popular rock group in London in July of 2022, surprising the crowd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
In 2015, Underwood, an avid fan of classic rock, told E! Online she found her voice from listening to artists like the Guns N’ Roses’ singer.
“I’ve covered enough Guns N’ Roses stuff, and it was people like him who taught me how to sing,” Underwood previously shared. “I look at people like him and Freddie Mercury, those people who were doing all these crazy runs. It was so different.”
During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2020, Carrie Underwood opened up about flying to Las Vegas to see her “favorite band,” Guns N’ Roses, for the first time and she declared it was “one of the best nights” of her life.
“We were nowhere near Las Vegas, so naturally I said, ‘Let’s go to Las Vegas with the band and go see GN’R play,’” Underwood told Fallon at the time. “It’s kind of a life-long dream of mine I never thought would happen. Couldn’t waste that opportunity, so I abandoned my husband, abandoned my children, went to Vegas, and saw Guns N’ Roses. Amazing.”
Carrie Underwood’s extremely limited run of shows with Guns ‘N Roses includes two more dates: Tuesday, August 8 at Parc Jean Drapeau in Montreal, QC and Saturday, August 26 at GEODIS Park in Nashville, TN.
Lauren Jo Black, a University of Central Florida graduate, has immersed herself in the world of country music for over 15 years. In 2008, she co-founded CountryMusicIsLove, eventually selling it to a major record label in 2015. Following the rebranding of the website to Sounds Like Nashville, Black served as Editor-in-Chief for two and a half years. Currently, she assumes the role of Editor-in-Chief at Country Now and oversees Country Now’s content and digital footprint. Her extensive experience also encompasses her previous role as a Country Music Expert Writer for Answers.com and her work being featured on Forbes.com. She’s been spotlighted among Country Aircheck’s Women of Influence and received the 2012 Rising Star Award from the University of Central Florida. Black also spent time in front of the camera as host of Country Now Live, which brought live music directly to fans in 2021 when the majority of concerts were halted due to the pandemic. During this time, she hosted 24 weeks of live concerts via Country Now Live on Twitch with special guests such as Lady A, Dierks Bentley, Jordan Davis, Brett Young, and Jon Pardi. Over the course of her career, she has had the privilege of conducting interviews with some of the industry’s most prominent stars, including Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton, Luke Combs, Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson, and many others. Lauren Jo Black is a longtime member of the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music.