Carrie Underwood Reveals Her Favorite Part of the Cry Pretty Tour 360

Carrie Underwood is experiencing plenty of great moments on her Cry Pretty Tour 360, but her favorite one happens before she even takes the stage!

“One of my favorite things about the #CryPrettyTour360 is that I have the pleasure of listening to @runawayjune and @MaddieandTae from backstage night after night!” Underwood wrote on social media, using the hashtags #SoGood #Fan #lucky.”

Not that Underwood doesn’t look forward to her time to perform as well. The American Idol alum performs in the center of the venue each night, allowing her to get up close and personal with her fans.

“I absolutely love my stage being in the middle of the arena,” Underwood said. “There is something about it that I feel so much more connected with every single person in that building. I feel like we’ve always done a great job of having big amazing stage sets and putting on a show, but there’s something completely different … I remember with the Storyteller Tour, I was like, ‘Ooh, I hope this is going to be okay. I’m changing everything up.’

“But there was just some connection happening,” she added. “I could see everybody in the arena, every single face. I could have individual connections with people.”

Underwood invites her tour openers to sing with her each night, performing a medley of country hits, including Reba McEntire’s “Why Haven’t I Heard From You,” Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and more.

The Oklahoma native intentionally picked both Runaway June and Maddie & Tae because of their music, and not just because they were female acts.

“I’m the kind of person who’s competitive, who wants to put on the best show I can,” Underwood told Pollstar. “That’s a lot of what I’m thinking about. I want to support talent, and yes, they’re all women, but these artists are very talented at what they do.”

“You look at my audience, you see tons of little girls,” she continued. “Why wouldn’t they want to see other super-talented young women?”

Underwood will take a break from her Cry Pretty Tour 360 to perform at both the 2019 CMT Music Awards as well as during CMA Fest. Find a list of all of her shows by visiting her website.

Photo Credit: Getty / Kevin Mazur