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'The Most Difficult Set': Eric Church Breaks His Silence On Stagecoach Controversy
Eric Church had by far the most talked about performance on Day 1 of Stagecoach Festival out in California, after he performed an acoustic medley for his entire hour and a half set.
Eric Church's headlining show at Stagecoach in California has been described as polarizing, splitting fans into diametrically opposed camps. The 70,000 festival attendees will have plenty to discuss and argue about throughout the weekend, as well as among the many fans who watched the live stream on Prime Video and Amazon's Twitch channel.
Church, following a 20-minute delay in his performance, adopted a churchy aesthetic, seated on a stool in front of a stained-glass video wall and joined by a 16-member choir. The ethos was evident in covers of spiritual songs like Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Edwin Hawkins Oh Happy Day, and This Little Light of Mine, but Church mixed these with secular and contemporary tracks, including snippets of Tupac and Snoop Dogg classics, to create a balance between the sacred and the profane.
Eric Church addresses the Stagecoach controversy
Eric Church performed at Stagecoach, a polarizing event featuring covers and songs by Tupac and Snoop Dogg. The acoustic set was filled with boos and a gospel choir, with some audience members leaving to see Nickelback perform on another stage. Church addressed the performance with a statement the following day.
“This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted,” he explained. Church continued, "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."
The singer further said, "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.’ 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."
At the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Church started 20 minutes late and barely addressed his fans. He sang Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, Edwin Hawkins' Oh Happy Day, and This Little Light of Mine with the choir, featuring singer Joanna Cotton. Church played some of his own tracks, but fans left as early as 15 minutes in, according to Desert Sun.
A brief about Eric Church
Eric Church is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has released nine studio albums through Capitol Nashville since 2005. His debut album, 2006's Sinners Like Me, produced three singles on the Billboard country charts including the top 20 hits How 'Bout You, Two Pink Lines, and Guys Like Me.
His second album, 2009's Carolina, produced three more singles, Smoke a Little Smoke and his first top 10 hits, Love Your Love the Most and Hell on the Heart. 2011's Chief, his first No. 1 album, gave him his first two No. 1 singles, Drink in My Hand and Springsteen, and the hits Homeboy, Creepin' and Like Jesus Does.
His third No. 1 single was The Only Way I Know, which he, Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan recorded for Aldean's album Night Train. A fourth album, The Outsiders, was released in February 2014. It produced five new singles between 2013 and 2015 with the title track, Give Me Back My Hometown, Cold One, Talladega, and Like a Wrecking Ball. Talladega and Give Me Back My Hometown each reached number one on the Country Airplay chart.
Church got his sixth No. 1 hit with Keith Urban in May 2015 with the single Raise 'Em Up. His fifth studio album, Mr. Misunderstood, was released in November 2015, and went on to produce two number-one singles with Record Year and Round Here Buzz. On July 13, 2018, Church released the first single and title track of his album Desperate Man, which was released in October 2018. In April 2021, Church released the triple album set Heart & Soul.
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