Carrie Underwood surprised the crowd at Iowa’s Velocity Festival on Saturday (Sept. 5) with a run of nu-metal covers spanning Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park and Papa Roach, capping her headlining set at the Field of Dreams Movie Site in Dyersville with a costume change to match.
Underwood worked through Collective Soul’s “Shine,” Papa Roach’s “Scars” and Linkin Park’s “One Step Closer” before closing the block with Limp Bizkit’s 1999 hit “Break Stuff,” for which she donned a backward red baseball cap in a nod to frontman Fred Durst.
Fan-filmed footage of the performance circulated widely online, drawing a mixed reaction: some praised the detour into late-’90s rock, while others pushed back on the song choice given its explicit lyrics, which Underwood largely sang around, letting the crowd fill in the words instead.
Underwood topped Saturday’s bill at the 2026 Velocity Festival, a three-day event that expanded this year following the success of its 2025 debut. She was joined on the day’s lineup by Default, Maggie Rose and Danny Worsnop, while Shinedown headlined Friday alongside Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Creed closed the weekend Sunday with Nate Smith and Filter.
The genre-blending, rock-heavy bill tracks with the festival’s identity since its inaugural year, when Tim McGraw and Nickelback headlined its first two-day run at the same site — the 193-acre Iowa farm made famous by the 1989 film Field of Dreams.
The covers aren’t a new direction for Underwood, who has repeatedly leaned into her rock and metal influences over the years, previously sharing stages with acts including Guns N’ Roses and Papa Roach. Earlier this year, during the May 11 finale of American Idol — where she serves as a judge — Underwood joined Mötley Crüe for performances of “Home Sweet Home” and “Kickstart My Heart,” earning a standing ovation from the studio audience.
“Home Sweet Home” carries added history for Underwood, who recorded her own version of the Mötley Crüe ballad in 2009 for use as the farewell song during American Idol Season 8.
