Earlier this week, a TMZ report claimed that Carrie Underwood was preparing to take a shift to hard rock under the tutelage of Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
That report turned out to be right on the money when the “American Idol” judge joined the band on Saturday, September 19 during a show in Atlanta, Georgia.
A Rock Star Reinvention?
As fan-shot video from the show demonstrates, her work with Rose paid off when she joined him for a sizzling duet on the band’s iconic hit “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”
Sporting a black tank top and leopard print shorts, Underwood demonstrated she’s no dilettante when it comes to rocking out, with her soaring voice giving the clearly delighted Rose a run for his money.
And that wasn’t all. Underwood also joined Rose for another of the band’s hits, “Paradise City” — even doing a little headbanging in he process.
Whether this GNR guest spot turns out to presage a new musical direction for Underwood — as TMZ reported — still remains to be seen.
A Longtime GNR Devotee
Over the years, Underwood hasn’t been shy about expressing her love of the band. In fact, during 2020 visit to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” she recalled recently catching GNR in concert.
“It’s kind of a lifelong dream of mine I never thought would happen, and I couldn’t waste that opportunity,” Underwood shared. “So I abandoned my husband, abandoned my children, went to Vegas… and saw Guns N’ Roses.”
She continued, “We were just kind of in there with everybody else, and it was absolutely incredible because it was just like — you could feel everybody. Everybody was screaming. I was screaming. I was like, ‘I’m never gonna see none of these people ever again! I’m gonna act like a fool!’ And it was amazing.”
‘A Fan Since Almost Birth’
A few years after that, Underwood finally got her chance to live out her rockstar dreams when she invited the band onstage for her 2022 headlining set at the Stagecoach Festival.
Long before that, however, she demonstrated her GNR fandom with a 2013 cover of “Paradise City” at the CMA Music Fest.
Appearing on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” in 2023, Underwood opened up about her love of the band.
“I’ve been a fan since almost birth,” she said, praising Rose’s singing. “His voice is something that just cut through the air to me … he didn’t sound like everybody else and sometimes it wasn’t pretty [because] that’s not what the song was meant for. He was willing to, you know, get into the song and do what the song needed.”
She also admitted she was intimidated the first time she met him. “I was like, ‘I’m not worthy to breathe the oxygen,’” she remembered. “They took me back to his dressing room and I just got to chat with him … we talked for a minute about the show, about touring, and stuff like that.”
Recalling their Stagecoach performance, she admitted how much she enjoyed rocking out with Guns N’ Roses.
“We have fun,” she shared. “When I’m onstage by myself that’s one thing, but then when there’s somebody else you get to play off of it’s just a different energy, it’s a different vibe.”
If you love GaR so much, then join them! It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if you ended your part of the concert with How Great Thou Art…….