Carrie Underwood Fanclub Party!

To presumably no one's surprise, I did not get a good night's sleep the night before Carrie Underwood's second annual fanclub party. A little before 6 a.m. I was wide awake, so I was up and out of bed. After using the hotel computers to post the latest chart information on Carrie's official site, I was off to the Grand Ole Opry at 7:45 a.m. where the party was being held. I met up with my friends Jen (at left with me), Val and others from the fanclub as I arrived a little before 8:15 a.m. The party wasn't scheduled to start until 10 a.m., so we had a lot of time to wait. All of us had a good time just hanging out and waiting for the doors to open.

Things ran a little behind schedule, and we made the mad dash for the best seats available when the doors to the Opry opened a little after 10:30 a.m. Jen, Val and the rest of the group managed to get third row seats just to the left of the center...
We waited another hour or so for her to come out. Of course, the 600 or so of us that were there went wild she made her first appearance! Carrie led off things with "Twisted" and "Get Out Of This Town" off her Carnival Ride album. Then she gave us a treat as she sang "The Night Before (Life Goes On)" from her first CD. Carrie was very animated as she sang "The More Boys I Meet." She then broke into her second number one hit "Don't Forget To Remember Me." She reached the midway point of the set with a terrific cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way."

Carrie then launched into her first number one hit, "Jesus, Take The Wheel." "You Won't Find This" and "Crazy Dreams" off her current album were next. Following was her great cover of George Michael's "Praying For Time" which she first sang on the American Idol Gives Back show. Carrie closed out things with her future #1 hit "Last Name." She gave us 11 songs total - six more than last year!

About an hour into the party, Carrie brought her wonderful Mom Carole (pictured left) up on stage. They bantered for several minutes, giving all of us some good laughs. One thing Carrie also brought up a lot was the weather. She said that they always seemed to run into bad weather when shooting her videos. We all got a good kick out of that especially given how hot and humid it was there in Nashville.

Carrie and Matt (pictured at right) closed things out by having a raffle of different prizes including autographed CD's, shirts, fanclub memberships and even iPod's! I was one of the lucky winners, getting a free year membership in the fanclub. My friend Jen did even better, winning one of the iPod's filled with all of Carrie's songs! One lucky winner even won an all-expense paid trip to see Carrie in concert in New Orleans!

After the raffle was finished, the party pretty much was over. Carrie stayed on the stage for a few more minutes, giving everyone a chance to get some real nice close-ups!



The party ended a little after 1:15 p.m. and after picking up our dated new fanclub t-shirts (brown for men, pink for women) which said "I partied with Carrie at the Opry House," 14 of us got together and had a nice lunch over at the Rainforest Cafe. The amazing thing about our group was that everyone was from a different state. From California to Massachusetts and Maine and everywhere in between, it was truly a diverse group! After lunch, we all went our separate ways, knowing we'd be in Carrie's and each other's presence again later that night as Carrie took the stage at the Grand Ole Opry. The party once again was a truly incredibly fun and happy experience for everyone in attendance, and I hope to get to go again next year!



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