Leave it to Eric Church to do whatever he wants. The musician recently appeared at Stagecoach to perform for fans, but it was unlike anything he's done before. And fans aren't happy.
The singer traded his usual high-energy, uptempo show for something slower and more somber. Church wanted to take listeners to church so to speak with stained glass as his backdrop. He performed an acoustic set backed by a gospel choir. It was certainly an experience, but many concert-goers called Church out for an odd performance.
Church performed a variety of songs including a number of covers like "Gin and Juice" and "Oh Happy Day." In response to the concert, several people called out Church on social media. They criticized Church for not putting on his usual tempo. Some felt that Church's concert was a bit boring.
One wrote, "@ericchurch committing career suicide at #Stagecoach .....painful. Un....f—king.....real. Insulting." Another commented, "i love an eric church gospel set, but if i was hammered in a field i'd be thrown for a loop rn."
Yet another wrote, "Obviously Stagecoach didn't learn their lesson from having Eric Church headline Friday night in 2016 and being a complete energy suck because he's doing it again tonight. The stream not showing any crowd shots because they are probably leaving in droves."
One person wrote, "Eric Church woke up and said fu$% it, I'm doing what I want tonight at #Stagecoach."
Eric Church Explains Set
Meanwhile, Church explained why he decided to do the set. He wanted to break down the music into what he calls its purest form. He said, "This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted. I've always found that taking it back to where it started, back to chasing who Bob Seger loves, who Springsteen loves, who Willie Nelson loves, you chase it back to the origin. The origin of all that is still the purest form of it. And we don't do that as much anymore. It felt good at this moment to go back, take a choir and do that."
He continued, "For me, it's always been something with records, with performances, I've always been the one that's like, 'let's do something really, really strange and weird and take a chance.'"
Church admits that it doesn't always work, but it's fun to try. He said, "Sometimes it doesn't work, but it's okay if you're living on that edge, because that edge, that cutting edge, is where all the new guys are going to gravitate to anyway. So if you can always challenge yourself that way, it always cuts sharper than any other edge."
