Eric Church has already announced he’s going back on tour this fall.
Eric and his team are set to hit the road on the ‘Gather Again’ tour in a few months and trek across the United States into 2022 in promotion of his recent triple album, Heart & Soul.
Of course, putting together a massive arena tour like that is no easy task regardless of COVID restrictions. So, needless to say, it’s been quite a challenge to figure out how they were going to manage this one.
Recently, Eric even appeared on the cover of Billboard with a photo of him getting his vaccine. He mentioned in the article that was the only way he could figure a country-wide tour would even be possible.
And now, in an interview with Variety, he spoke more in detail about what went into planning everything and why he felt it was so important to put one on the books:
“I’ve said that the vaccine would be the only way for us to tour again. I’ve looked at every possible scenario. Because nothing else has been going on, I have been involved in calls with municipalities, state authorities, epidemiologists and scientists, all this stuff.
I never could see a way for us to test our way into touring. Not for the many people we play to. Maybe five or 10 states, but you’d never be able to play in 50 states without the vaccine.”
And thankfully, he decided not to move the scheduled dates to 2022 like a lot of other artists already have.
“We could do what a lot of people did, and punt to ’22. But I’ve been as concerned about the country, and our psyche with the lack of music and sports and connection, the isolation…
There was an opportunity for us to lead. We took the attitude that we’re going to do this.”
He stressed the difficulty of the planning, as I’m sure it’s probably a logistical nightmare, but he felt like the sanity of the country was at stake and wanted to take the lead in getting live music going in a nationwide capacity.
“Things may adapt. But we’re doing this. We’re going to strap on guitars, gather people together, and we’re going to start to pull people out of this nosedive.”
He assures fans that, no matter what happens, he’ll be on tour again this fall:
“Call it stubbornness. Whatever you want. That is the way I approach this. I am very direct with it. I’m holding my ground here — drawing my line in the sand.”
I can’t WAIT. I’m sure I speak for a lot of people when I say how ready I am to go to a sporting event or see a concert again. It’s awesome to see Eric take charge in seeing that through and maybe show other artists it can be done safely, too.
Until then, relive some of best from Heart & Soul:
