Why Carrie Underwood Has Been Singing Guns N’ Roses for Her ‘Whole Life’
Carrie Underwood got Axl Rose “out of hiding” for her 2022 Stagecoach Music Festival performance. However, the former American Idol contestant has been a longtime fan of Guns N’ Roses, even covering songs like “Patience,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and “Welcome to the Jungle.”
Carrie Underwood covered ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and ‘Paradise City’
Just months ahead of Denim & Rhinestones’ debut, Underwood headlined Stagecoach. In April 2022, the artist performed at the outdoor country music festival — hosted at Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
Dressed in a stunned Guns ‘N Roses t-shirt, this artist broke into a live rendition of “Sweet Child O’ Mine. After singing the chorus, Underwood shouted, “welcome to the greatest night of my life. Give it up for Axl Rose.”
The band member then performed the second verse of Guns N’ Roses’ hit. After the song ended, the guitarist started “Paradise City,” with Underwood saying, “you thought we were finished.”
Carrie Underwood has been covering Guns N’ Roses her ‘whole life, pretty much’
Underwood’s Stagecoach Music Festival setlist included hits like “Last Name,” “Undo It,” “Cowboy Casanova,” “Good Girl,” and the live debut of “Denim & Rhinestones.” The artist later commented on her performance alongside the Guns N’ Roses member.
“It was many years in the making,” Underwood said during an interview with Rolling Stone. “I’ve been covering Guns N’ Roses my whole life, pretty much, and definitely onstage for the past 15 years at least.”
“I had asked before if he would ever come sing, or if I could come to him somewhere,” she continued. “We had a couple almost maybes, where it almost maybe would have happened but for various reasons it wasn’t the right time.”
Are Carrie Underwood and Axl Rose friends?
Underwood is a longtime fan (and a friend) of the Guns N’ Roses vocalist, performing an acoustic version of “Patience” in 2006. In 2022, she also performed “Welcome to the Jungle” on stage. For Stagecoach, the “Jesus, Take the Wheel” singer specifically reached out to Rose.
“I sent him an email and said, ‘We’re so close to you,’ and explained the why and what he meant to me,” Underwood noted in the same interview. “The way I learned how to sing was I would pick really hard vocalists to try to emulate, and his voice always mesmerized me.”
“I was like, ‘How is he doing the things that he’s doing?’ So I told him all that and he came,” she added. “We had rehearsals and everything went very smoothly. It was easy for all of us to be around each other. Hopefully, he had a good time.”
Underwood already has several impressive collaborations under her belt. She sang “The Fighter” with Keith Urban for Ripcord and “Somethin’ Bad” with Miranda Lambert. Additionally, the artist was featured on Disney’s Enchanted soundtrack thanks to “Ever Ever After.”
