It was a cold and damp Ash Wednesday night in February. As we (my wife and I) parked the car and made our way across the lots, crowds of fans walked towards the doors of the Wells Fargo Center wearing cowboys boots and hats, eager to see an Idol on stage.
On February 22, 2023, Carrie Underwood and her Denim & Rhinestones Tour made the stop in Philadelphia. Joining her on the tour was Jimmie Allen and DJ Vinom. As we made our way into the venue the merch lines were bustling, concession stands were selling, and food and drinks were being consumed.
After grabbing some pizza and a beer, it was time to take our seats up on section 210A. DJ Vinom was already on stage entertaining as others continued to find their seats or spot on the floor. DJ Vinom was playing popular hits and interacting with the crowd, both hand tossing and using a launcher to send T-shirts into the crowd.
It was also during this time my one complaint on the night reared its ugly head. The sound was clearly not reaching the 2nd level the same as it was reaching those on the floor. It was nearly impossible to make out any words being spoken into the mic. I could catch a few words here and there and piece together what was being said based on context clues, but in reality it was an unenjoyable experience that carried through Jimmie Allen’s set and into Carrie’s first song. When songs were played with music, it was easier to put it all together knowing the words of the songs, but it was the speaking conversation that was hardest to hear. Thankfully it did get corrected, but was a bummer for the first part of the show. Walking the concourse after Allen’s set, I could hear others also talking about the poor sound as well.
As 7:30 approached, DJ Vinom departed the stage to make way for Jimmie Allen’s band. On the kickdrum was a gold number 15 with a black background. The stage lit with blue backlights. By 7:32, Jimmie Allen was on stage opening the night with ‘be alright’ from Allen’s latest album “Tulip Drive.” Allen then moved right into the hit single ‘Make Me Want To’ from his 2018 debut album “Mercury Lane.”
After a couple more songs, Allen took some time to talk to the crowd and lead some karaoke. As mentioned, hearing the audio wasn‘t great but there was no mistake in the songs he was getting the crowd to sing, ending with the chorus from Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline.’ Growing up in Delaware as an Eagles fan, Allen also seemed to enjoy leading the arena in an E.A.G.L.E.S chant.
Right at 8:00, Allen jumped into his current hit single ‘Down Home’ for his second to last song of the night. The record is written as a letter to his father who has passed away. And for anyone unsure of why the 15 was prominent on the face of the kickdrum, hopefully all the confusion came to a close when he sang the line,
“I wear the number fifteen every chance I get
So when you're looking through the clouds, daddy
You can bet”
Ending the set, Allen brought the energy back up with ‘Freedom Was A Highway,’ a song Allen performed with Brad Paisley as part of Allen’s 2020 album “ Bettie James: A Collaboration Project”
The time was now 8:10 and DJ Vinom was back on stage during the set change before Carrie Underwood took the stage at 8:45. The arena went black and Motorhead’s ‘Ace of Spades’ rang out from the speakers. As ‘Ace Of Spades’ ended, the aurora of the venue turned purple and a medley of Underwood’s music was played by the band, the stage curtain was lifted revealing the band and the on-stage video screen, confetti streamers blasted from the overhead rigging.
It was time! Carrie Underwood finally appeared in the middle of the stage via a riser and she belted out “Hey good girl,” the opening words to ‘Good Girl’ from the 2012 album “Blown Away.” True to the name “The Denim & Rhinestone Tour,” Underwood was wearing a denim jacket with lots of bling. The multiple wardrobe changes continued to carry that theme throughout the night.
The variety of songs for the night spanned all of Underwood’s albums, hitting each of the various timeframes through her career. Early songs in the night included ‘Church Bell,’ ‘Hate My Heart,’ and ‘If I Didn’t Love You,’ a song by Jason Aldean that Underwood is featured on.
It was shortly after 9:15 now when after another wardrobe change, Underwood returned to the stage wearing a cowboy hat and a fringed jacket holding a wine glass filled with red wine. It was during this time she expressed her love for country music due to the ability to tell stories and pretend to be characters foreign to her real life personality. She pointed out she doesn‘t carve her name into cars and slash the tires. But it was the wine in hand that I noticed. In ‘Dirty Laundry,’ a song about a cheating man, there is a line “Well, you drink beer and whiskey, boy, and you know I don't drink red.” Obviously with the red wine being sipped on stage, the woman, or character portrayed in ‘Dirty Laundry’ couldn’t have been Underwood.
Underwood continued talking about story writing as other characters separate from her real life. She leaned into inspiration from Dolly Parton and Parton’s song ‘Jolene.’ ‘Jolene’ is the iconic song about a man leaving Dolly for Jolene. Underwood however took a different spin on that story as she alluded to maybe Parton knew all along and was willing to let that man walk away. The full story of Underwood's interpretation was then played, titled ‘She Don’t Know’ from her latest album.
Underwood later moved to a small stage in the back part of the floor, getting to and from the main stage using an aerial conveyor ride and featured aerial aerobics performed by Underwood during the ride back to the main stage. Songs during this portion of the night included ‘Two Black Cadillacs,’ ‘Jesus Take The Wheel,’ and ‘Crazy Angels.’
Returning to the main stage, Allen joined Underwood for ‘Denim & Rhinestones.’ Looking at social media Allen looks to usually wear a big denim jacket, but for this “hometown” show he donned a DeVonta Smith Eagles Jersey.
As the night came to an end, the band came back onto the stage after leaving for a very brief moment. Some may call this an encore, but arguably this was less of a scheduled encore and more of just a break in action. I only say this because even the planned encores usually include the artist thanking the fans before running off stage, but nothing happened prior to the band initially leaving the stage in the dark to signify an “encore.”
However after this brief moment, rock ‘n roll took over during a cover of Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Welcome To The Jungle.’ Not that Underwood has any reason to leave country music, but if she ever wanted to cross into the rock ‘n roll genre, she could easily make that switch. Her vocals are absolutely incredible and the rock genre was just as impressive.
The final song, ‘Before He Cheats,’ ended the night at just around 10:35. The nearly 2 hour long set was filled with hit songs, multiple albums, a few different genres, and an absolute pleasure to witness and be a part of. Fans began to leave the seating bowl portion of the arena, filling into the concourse filled with joy and bliss after a 2+ hour stress relief therapy session. For those few hours, the reality of the world was gone. The night was just music, fun, denim, and rhinestones.
Written by Michael Green
February 24, 2023
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