Carrie Underwood Soars at the Crown During "Play On" Tour

Carrie Underwood staged an amazing show at the Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, NC last night complete with a high-flying pickup truck suspended above the audience in which she toured the arena and played to the ecstatic crowd.

"You're not seeing things," said Carrie, "I am in a flying blue truck. I think I have the best seat in the house."

My daughter Elanor and I had front row seats to the Carrie Underwood show, part of her current "Play On" tour. We were not disappointed. Carrie opened the show with a blistering rendition of her big hit Cowboy Casanova and never lost momentum.

Her 90-minute set was full of extravagant costume changes, great video displays and light shows, and Carrie herself belting out her big hits in a voice that seemed to soar through the rafters of the Crown.

Carrie Underwood rocked to fame off of American Idol and recently won the ACM Entertainer of the Year Award for the second time.

It was easy to see why, as she held the eager audience in her hands through songs like Jesus Take the Wheel and Wasted on an elaborate stage that seemed designed to make sure there were no bad seats in the house.

The highlight of the show came when Carrie was flying high in a blue pickup truck hovering over our heads, taking her own tour of the Crown Coliseum and singing the John Denver classic Take Me Home, Country Roads.

Even when Carrie slipped up she never faltered. After dropping the microphone during a performance of the song Quitter she had a big smile for the crowd.

"I'm Miss Butterfingers tonight," said Carrie. "I've already broken a cup of coffee and dropped a mic, so if I fall you guys have to catch me."

Carrie was joined onstage for one song by the group Sons of Sylvia, a trio of brothers who are coming off a hot American Idol performance and who wowed the crowd earlier in the evening with their dazzling blend of bluegrass-style musical skills and the soaring vocals of young front man Ashley Clark.

The Crown audience also readily embraced rising country star Craig Morgan, a former member of Fort Bragg's 82^nd Airborne Division who participated in a jump with the military the day before the show. Morgan's set was big on his country hits, but also took a neat detour when he performed a surprisingly effective cover of Lionel Richie's classic Easy Like Sunday Morning.

Overall Carrie Underwood and her tour mates gave Fayetteville and the Crown Coliseum a high-flying night to remember.

For more of Jeffrey's writing see his blog A Dash Of Salty