Carrie Underwood lights up Alerus Center on 'Denim and Rhinestones Tour'

Oct. 28—GRAND FORKS — A Carrie Underwood concert consists of glitz, glam and country rock grit. The country music star brought all that, plus fireworks, to Grand Forks as she put on a bright, flashy and stylish show for a crowd of approximately 13,000 at the Alerus Center on Thursday, Oct. 27.

Underwood rose above the stage floor singing the 2012 hit "Good Girl" around 8:45 p.m., filling the stadium with her larger-than-life voice and promising the audience a good time.

"Grand Forks, how y'all doing?" she asked a few songs in. "I hope you're ready to have a good time tonight because that's what we're going to do."

The Grand Forks show was an early stop in her "Denim & Rhinestones Tour," which kicked off Oct. 15 in Greenville, South Carolina.

Underwood is an eight-time Grammy Award winner and has been named Academy of Country Music "Entertainer of the Year" three times. Since winning the fourth season of "American Idol" in 2005, she has gone on to release nine studio albums. She has released 28 No. 1 singles, 14 of which she co-wrote.

Her most recent album, "Denim & Rhinestones," was released in June.

Deb and Rick Lee drove from Adams, North Dakota, after work to see Underwood play. Deb Lee said she has been a fan of Underwood since she won American Idol, but it was the first time she'd seen her in concert.

"It used to be that the older country singers were kind of twangy, but she's more country rock," she said. "I like her glitz and glitter."

The crowd grew as Jimmie Allen, a rising star in country music opened the concert. Allen, nominated for Best New Artist at the 2022 Grammy Awards, played a mix of original songs and country music favorites.

By the time Underwood started her set, most of the seats and much of the floor in the stadium had filled in.

The momentum of her energetic opening song carried through her set. As a fun reminder that the night would feature a heavy dose of country music, she at one point greeted the audience with a "howdy" and pointed out the two fiddlers accompanying her on stage.

"Do you say 'howdy' up here?" Underwood asked the crowd. "You do now."

Between high-energy songs, she shared a quieter moment with the audience on a separate, smaller stage in the middle of the stadium, to which she floated above the audience on a swing.

"I wanted to make sure everybody got a front-row seat at some point during the show," she said.

There, she sang her new song "Garden" and then "Jesus Take The Wheel," followed by the hymn "How Great Thou Art."

Underwood returned to the main stage, again flying above the audience accompanied by neon angel wings during the song "Crazy Angels." Allen then joined Underwood on stage to help her sing her new album's title track "Denim & Rhinestones."

After more than 20 songs and five wardrobe changes, Underwood ended her show on a rock note, covering Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" and closing with her biggest hit, "Before He Cheats."