Three nights, three different shows.
Fans of Eric Church know that they can never be too sure what to expect from the Chief during his shows. The country music legend has always been one to change up his setlist each night, try different things in front of a live crowd, and give fans a unique experience each time they come to see him perform.
Of course sometimes that leads to backlash like he received from his headlining performance at Stagecoach last year, when his hour and a half long acoustic set left some disappointed. But real Eric Church fans know that whenever they see him live, they’re going to get something special.
Church is gearing up to release his next album, Evangeline vs. The Machine, on May 2. And he’s already announced that he’ll be performing two shows at The Pinnacle in Nashville, which will feature Church performing the album from front to back along with some of his other hits.
And now he’s got something else special in the works: Three nights at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre, with each night featuring an entirely different show.
The first show on July 14 will be “Eric Church vs. The Machine,” and will feature “a full-scale production featuring his band joined by a dynamic ensemble of strings, horns and choir.”
The second show, on July 15, is billed as “Eric Church vs. The ECB,” and sounds like the most traditional Eric Church show of the three nights, featuring “a raw, high-energy set with his original band, including longtime collaborator Joanna Cotten.”
And for the third night, he’s stripping it back for “Eric Church vs. The Guitar,” which will be “a stripped-down, intimate evening with Church alone on stage, delivering an acoustic performance like only he can.”
Tickets for the shows, which will also feature Stephen Wilson Jr., will be available to members of his Church Choir fan club on Monday, April 7 at 10 AM before going on sale to the general public Friday, April 11 (if there are any left).
Fans can choose which night they want to attend, or if they want to be there for all of them, 3-night tickets will also be available.
I’ve got to say, I’ve never been to Red Rocks, and this might be the show that finally gets me out to the legendary venue. Three nights, with three different shows, seems like an incredible experience for Church fans, and shows off why he’s one of the greatest artists in country music.
And regardless of which show you go to, you can pretty much rest assured that it’s going to be epic every night.
Evangeline vs. The Machine
Speaking on the upcoming album, Church said that he went to great lengths to make sure it was something unique for his fans:
“An album is a snapshot in time that lasts for all time. I believe in that time-tested tradition of making records that live and breathe as one piece of art – I think it’s important.
I’ve always let creativity be the muse. It’s been a compass for me. The people that I look up to in my career and the kind of musicians I gravitate to never did what I thought they were going to do next – and I love them for it. I never want our fans to get an album and go, ‘Oh, that’s like Chief or that’s like this.’ Painstakingly, I lose sleep at night to try to make sure that whatever we do creatively, they go, ‘Wow, that’s not what I thought.’ I think that’s my job as an artist.”
The album features 8 songs, including the already-released “Darkest Hour” and “Hands of Time,” and it also contains “Johnny,” a powerful new song that Church performed during his To Beat the Devil residency at his Nashville bar, Chief’s, and performed publicly for the first time during CRS last month.
Eric revealed that the song was actually written the day after the tragic shooting at Nashville’s Covenant School:
“About a year ago we had a shooting here in Nashville and where my kids go to school, is about a mile from that school. And I’m gonna tell you something, the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life, parent or otherwise, is dropping them off at that school the day after that shooting, and watching them walk inside.
And I sat in the parking lot for a long time, and as fate would have it Charlie Daniels was playing “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” And I remember thinking, ‘Man, we could use Johnny right now’ because the Devil is not in Georgia. He is everywhere, and I went home and wrote ‘Johnny.’”
@bonitawallace8 @Eric Church with a moving performance of “Johnny” with a powerful speech at @Ryman. #ericchurch #ericchurchmusic #nashville #nashvilletennessee #crs
Evangeline vs. The Machine Track List
1. Hands Of Time (Eric Church, Scooter Carusoe)
2. Bleed On Paper (Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard, Monty Criswell)
3. Johnny (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Brett Warren)
4. Storm In Their Blood (Eric Church)
5. Darkest Hour (Eric Church)
6. Evangeline (Eric Church, Luke Laird, Barry Dean)
7. Rocket’s White Lincoln (Eric Church)
8. Clap Hands (Tom Waits)
