Carrie Underwood - LIVE In Concert! - Part 2

It was exactly a year ago when I first saw the Supreme Miss American Idol, Season Four winner Carrie Underwood perform live at the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park IL. When I learned that she was coming back for another performance, I immediately went online back in April and bought tickets for myself and some of my favorite cowboys so we could enjoy the fun of music under the stars with Carrie once again.

Carrie has been riding high on an fantastically successful 2010 already being named the ACM Entertainer of the Year for two years in a row, winning the CMT Video of the Year for Cowboy Casanova and having her 10th #1 hit on the Billboard Country singles chart with Undo It. In fact, just today the fantastic video for Undo It has now spent a record breaking 12th week at #1 on the CMT Top 20 Video Countdown.

With so many wonderful songs in her catalog the anticipation for this live performance was HUGE! We arrived at Ravinia at 3:20 and the crowd of fans was already lined up to get into the park. The Premier members were fortunate enough to get in early and get some prime picnic space while the rest of us regular people had to wait until 4:00 to finally get in. Thankfully, we were able to find a very cozy square of space under a tree that was large enough to accommodate our group of cowboys who were eager to have fun and enjoy the music.

It was a very hot and steamy day with the sun shining bright and temperatures climbing over 90 degrees. The food was delicious, the wine was chilled and the fans were fun and friendly so the time just flew by until the Supreme Miss American Idol finally took the stage at 7:15.

She opened the show were her crowd pleasing smash hit, Cowboy Casanova. The band played the familiar riff a few times and then Carrie walked onstage looking absolutely stunning in black skinny jeans lined with rhinestones and a lovely strapless top with glittering fringe. She segued directly into track 2 on her latest hit album Play On, Quitter. The set list for tonight's show was much different from what she did last year as she was able to pull huge hits from all three of her multi-platinum albums, Some Hearts, Carnival Ride and Play On.

She didn't have any costume changes through the evening as she went through a spectacular string of hits including Wasted, Just A Dream, Temporary Home, All-American Girl, Jesus Take The Wheel and So Small. One of the best parts about seeing a show at Ravinia is that fans have the space on the lawn to get up and dance to this fantastic set-list of songs. I thoroughly enjoyed dancing with my handsome cowboy friends to these songs and it was very clear that the other fans in the park loved seeing us two-step and shadow along with Carrie.

The show came to a very exciting culmination as Carrie sang her smash hits Last Name and Before He Cheats while the crowd sang along with satisfaction and approval. She closed the show with the very fun and catchy track from Play On called Songs Like This. The fans seemed to love it and it appears that this might be a likely future single to be released.

The Supreme Miss American Idol proved once again why she is the multi platinum selling artist who is adored by fans young and old. It was a great night with friends. The fried chicken was tasty, the shrimp cocktail was delicious, the ham was succulent, the cowboys were wonderful and the music was amazing! How lucky I feel to have been there. :)

Upcoming IDOL releases

A few of the Miss American Idol finalists have some new music that is going to be released in the next couple of months:

The one coming first is from Season Three Miss American Idol winner Fantasia. Her new album, Back to Me, will be in stores this Tuesday August 24th. The first single from the album, Bittersweet, is continuing to make small gains each week on the chart so it could have at least Top 40 potential.

The Season Seven Miss American Idol 1st Runner-Up, David Archuleta, will have his new music in stores on October 5th. We've already heard the first single, Something 'Bout Love, but it still hasn't made a ripple on the charts yet. The video for the song was just released so that might give this very fun and catchy dance pop jam a little more exposure and get people to pay attention to it.

Finally, on November 16th the Season Nine Miss American Idol winner, Lee DeWyze, will have his debut album in stores. No new single has leaked out yet so I can't really say much else except he's gonna have to work really hard to have a hit.

It's good to LIKE Fantasia!

In just one week there will be new music available from the Season Three Miss American Idol Winner, Fantasia. Her new album Back To Me is going to be out on August 24th.

The first single from the album, Bittersweet, is at #90 on the Billboard HOT 100 this week and it's picking up spins on the radio airplay chart. Bittersweet also peaked at #10 on the Billboard R&B songs chart recently.

In addition, this album contains the song Move On Me that Fantasia talked about during the first season of her reality show, Fantasia For Real. She campaigned very hard for this song to be the first single, but that clearly did not happen. Now will be our chance to finally hear what she was raving about all that time.

This is also an opportunity to get a listen to some of the amazing work Fantasia did on Broadway while starring in The Color Purple. Her version of I'm Here from the Original Cast Recording is included in this collection.

BUT why wait till next week when you can get a listen to the entire album RIGHT NOW!!! Just go to the Fantasia fan page on Facebook and click that you LIKE her. This will give you access to stream every track on the album before you can buy it. I'm actually listening to it right now and loving it quite a bit.