From the very beginning of this pandemic, Eric Church has always taken the realistic approach.
When folks were canceling shows last spring and rescheduling them for the summer, Eric was quick to say that fall of 2021 was the more likely target. And he’s probably going to be right.
According to a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, the fourth quarter is still the target date for Eric. But when the time comes, it’s going to be a case by case basis, and it all hinges on the vaccine rollout.
“I think it’s a fourth-quarter deal for me, but depends on what state the festival is in. I wish we were in a place right now where we could use concerts to vaccinate people. But I feel good.
There’s so much antivax shit that goes around, but I’m seeing less of that now. People just want out. Somebody asked me if I’d take the vaccine. I said I’d take it in the eyeball to go strap on a guitar.”
Well said Eric. Well said…
However this week, Eric will be gearing up for his two Super Bowl performances, both the national anthem and the Verizon after party. The national anthem was something he swore he’d never do, however the events of the Capitol riots gave him a new perspective. A new approach to weighing the “risk versus reward,” as he called it.
“With what’s going on in America, it feels like an important time for a patriotic moment. An important time for unity. The fact that I’m a Caucasian country singer and she’s an African American R&B singer, I think the country needs that… I feel like in this country, we’ve given up the common ground. When I’m at a concert, I’m not thinking about how many people there are Republicans or Democrats. But that’s how you win elections… you have to create the division, to rile up a base.”
And for Eric, all of that division and hatred is fueled by the lack of togetherness, the lack of communion. The kind of community that you get at a concert or sporting event, trips with your friends and family or a night out on the town. Without it, we see incidents like the Capitol riots.
“And because of COVID, we’ve lost the things that used to unite us: concerts, sporting events, trips to Vegas with the boys. I can tell you from the concert standpoint, the longer we go without people being able to put their arms around the person next to them and have a moment of communion, it gets more tenuous and more dangerous. And I think the reality of that is what happened at the Capitol.
I think when we do an autopsy on COVID, we’re gonna realize how much mental health matters. We’ve been so focused on the physical because we’ve had to be. But the emotional and the psychological… it’s gonna matter for a while.”
Once again, well said.
Reminds me of this little song I know…
