Eric Church is currently on his highly anticipated Outsiders Revival Tour, which has been commended and applauded by country fans who have attended.
However, before he officially kicked off the tour, the Chief graced the stage at CMA Fest back in the beginning of June. Fans packed Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee to take in Church’s performance, and though it delivered some high points, many were upset that it seemed to abruptly come to an end.
Social media was flooded with videos of outraged CMA Fest attendees, with some even saying that boos were raining down on Church as he exited stage left.
One fan summed up it pretty well with this angry tweet from the night of:
“Eric Church ends very weird set and disappoints 50,000 fans. I don’t know if he was pissed off at the CMA or what. Lights come on only 4 songs in and it’s done. Major disappointment at the CMAs.”
It was assumed that Eric Church might’ve brushed the whole thing off, but a recent interview revealed that the Chief was actually taken back by the whole CMA Fest debacle.
When asked about the ordeal by Rolling Stone, Church conceded:
“I was shocked because I played the show that I went out there to play. We had a time slot and I went out there to play that slot and try to show a little bit, a peek, as to what I was working on for this tour.
I’m not going to give everything, but I’m going to give a little peek of what this could be.”
Clearly he was trying to put on a good show in the time that was allotted to him, without giving away too much of his upcoming tour. Church also added that there were some things in the performance that were out of his control:
“There were a couple of production things that I was not responsible for, when the lights went up (at the end of the set), that wasn’t me. But for what I went to do, it was fast and hard. And the shows are that way.”
Some fans were also upset at the randomness and arrangement of the seven songs that he played at CMA Fest. He played “Drink in My Hand” and “Cold One,” while his other headlining hits were nowhere to be heard.
The 46-year-old artist said that he simply wanted to shake things up with the set:
“All the songs are different. All the songs were changed. It was punchy. I didn’t play ‘Springsteen,’ because I have a new version of ‘Springsteen.’ You’ve got to come to a show and see it.”
All in all, it seems like Church wanted to put on a unique show and fulfill the classic entertainment trope of “leaving the fans wanting more.”
Hopefully he didn’t upset the fans enough to where they won’t seek out a concert to go to for his Outsiders Revival Tour…
