Carrie Underwood Goes Nu Metal at Velocity Festival

Country superstar Carrie Underwood took an unexpected detour into turn-of-the-century heavy rock during her headlining performance at the 2026 Velocity Festival, covering songs by Papa Roach, Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit.

Underwood performed Saturday, September 5th at the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville, Iowa. During the latter half of her set, she launched into a four-song stretch that began with Collective Soul's "Shine" before moving into heavier territory with Papa Roach's "Scars."

She followed up with Linkin Park's "One Step Closer" and closed the segment with Limp Bizkit's "Break Stuff." Underwood fully committed to the latter, sporting a backward red baseball cap in a visual nod to Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst while taking on the song's shouted vocals.

The covers arrived amid a 24-song performance otherwise filled with Underwood staples including "Church Bells," "Cowboy Casanova," "Blown Away," "Jesus, Take the Wheel," and "Before He Cheats." She also performed Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" later in the show. The reported setlist can be viewed through setlist.fm.

While hearing a country headliner tear through nu-metal standards may appear unusual, Underwood's affection for heavier music is well established. She opened several dates for Guns N' Roses in 2023, filling those performances with material by Joan Jett, Motörhead, Led Zeppelin, Pat Benatar, and other rock acts. She also recorded "Leave a Light On (Talk Away the Dark)" with Papa Roach in 2024 and joined the band onstage the following year.

The genre-hopping performance made it clear that the harder edge Underwood brings to her live shows is more than a passing novelty. Even alongside some of the biggest songs in her country catalog, she appeared entirely comfortable stepping into the world of late-'90s and early-2000s heavy music.