What’s going on with Eric Church? There’s a lot of concern about him after his controversial performance at this year’s Stagecoach Festival. Fans are apparently “turning on” Eric, and there are allegations that he’s “not OK.”
On April 28th, Billboard reported that Eric’s “gospel-oriented” set in Indio, California, was so “polarizing” that fans either raved about it or booed while leaving the show early. As Billboard put it, many fans who attended Eric’s closing set on the “Mane stage” at the Empire Polo Grounds were not “ready for some religion,” even if Eric did “put a great deal of thought” into his song selection, stage decorations, and backup singers.
Eric performed before a stunning stained-glass backdrop, and a 16-person choir accompanied him. Some fans were disappointed that Eric decided to do cover songs like “Hallelujah” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Was Eric just making excuses in his post-show press release?
Eric claimed his April 26th Stagecoach show was “the most difficult set” he’d ever “attempted.” He also claimed he wanted to perform the “origin” music that his idols Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, and Willie Nelson all love.
Unfortunately, many angry fans hated it. What happened next was twisted. The Billboard article included on-scene complaints from fans, including one user on X who got nearly 23,000 views.
The X user wrote directly to “@Stagecoach” that she paid “$600” to see Eric and “people” were “leaving.” She did call Eric a “legend,” but she didn’t like the cover songs “with a choir.” She finished with, “This isn’t what we came for.”
Could Eric Be Worse than Nickleback?
Nickelback has been unfairly portrayed as the “most hated band in the world.” However, as Billboard reported, Eric’s fans turned on him so badly that many left “mid-show” to check out “Nickelback’s performance at the Palomino Stage.”
There’s also the newspaper reporter who reviewed Eric’s set for the Palm Springs Desert Sun. According to the Desert Sun’s reviewer, Brian Blueskye, Eric sent “festival-goers” straight for the “exits.”
Brian also called Eric one of “country music’s true rebels.” But as Brian explained in his review, this wasn’t “the same guy” who headlined Stagecoach on Friday night.
Brian described crowds of fans who began leaving Eric’s show “about 15 minutes” into what Brian called a “bizarre” set. He called it “a sight that could be best described as Moses parting the Red Sea.” The only thing that Eric said to the crowd for the first 66 minutes of his set was, “How y’all doin’?”
Billboard uploaded another fan complaint on X, where the user alleged that Stagecoach hadn’t “learned their lesson” after Eric headlined Stagecoach in 2016. The user threw shade at Eric for “being a complete energy suck” in 2016.
They claimed, “he’s doing it again tonight.” The user joked that the Stagecoach livestream probably wasn’t “showing any crowd shots” because the crowd was “leaving in droves.”
Eric Doesn’t Regret His Set Choices
People Magazine also filed a report on April 28th, writing that Eric decided “to take a risk with his set.” Eric confessed he wanted to “do something really, really strange and weird and take a chance.” Shockingly, he was prepared for disaster when he admitted, “Sometimes it doesn’t work.”
If Eric knew that was the truth, he didn’t seem to care how his fans took his “really strange” and “weird” set at Stagecoach, which cost them a lot of money. Eric claimed, “It’s OK 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.” Was Eric talking about one “new guy” in particular?
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It’s well-known in country music that Eric and Morgan Wallen are good buddies and song collaborators. When Eric opened his new bar, Chiefs, in Nashville on April 5th, Morgan quickly brought bad publicity to it. He tossed a chair off the roof a couple of days later after allegedly getting over-served.
People reported that Eric had previously announced a “19-date concert residency” at Chiefs between April and June. Eric said, “These shows at Chief’s will be one-of-a-kind, only for Chief’s, and with some songs that will only ever be performed during these shows.” When you hear Eric saying that, it sounds like those unlucky Stagecoach fans spent hard-earned cash on the wrong Eric Church show.
Eric Opened Up About a Personal Tragedy
One of the strangest things about Eric’s Stagecoach disaster this year is that he’s “outraged” fans before, most recently at his bizarre set at the CMA Fest a year ago. Rolling Stone reported in July 2023 that Eric was “shocked” by the “polarizing” fan reaction to his CMA Fest set. Eric thought he was challenging fans “with different arrangements” on seven of his songs, including “Drink in My Hand” and “Cold One.”
Rolling Stone wrote that “some” of Eric’s fans were probably “expecting a show of note-for-note hits.” Wouldn’t any fan want to hear the hits they know and love?
It’s crazy that Eric doesn’t seem to care what his fans want, considering that his career relies on fan support. But Eric wanted his CMA Fest set to be “punchy.” He confessed, “I didn’t play ‘Springsteen’ because I have a new version of ‘Springsteen.’”
There is one personal tragedy in Eric’s life that might explain why he’s not OK these days. He talked to Rolling Stone about losing his brother, Brandon, who passed away at the young age of 36.
Eric said he wanted to “pay tribute” to Eric during the “intimate, solo shows” he was planning for his residency at Chief’s. He did warn fans that he was “not” doing his most popular hits like “Drink in My Hand.”
Instead, he was imagining “stuff that’s very raw” and “very real.” Eric even described it as “Church on Broadway.”
Eric Pushes Boundaries in His Music
On April 29th, Today commented on Eric’s Stagecoach performance. If you don’t remember this, you might not believe it because Eric has a pattern of disappointing fans during his live shows.
Eric also performed a 17-song “acoustic medley” at Nissan Stadium in Nashville during the CMA Fest 2019. As Today reported, Eric didn’t include “some of his major hits” in that allegedly disappointing set, either.
The Today article meant Esquire interviewed Eric in September 2023. He was described as “country music’s most wildly unpredictable superstar.”
Eric confessed many things to Esquire. You can begin to understand that he’s only trying to stay true to his authentic self with those “bizarre sets” at CMA Fest and Stagecoach. His fans might not appreciate Eric’s perspective, but Esquire claimed that Eric has “earned” a ton of “respect from his peers,” including Luke Combs, who’s been inspired by Eric’s live performances just like Morgan has admitted in the past.
Esquire described how Eric has changed up his sound in the studio from the “heavy rock” on his album The Outsiders to the softer “singer-songwriter approach” on his following album, Mr. Misunderstood.
Luke said that Eric “continues to put out stuff that’s completely different.” Eric “constantly” pushes the “boundaries,” whether it’s “songwriting or his live show.”
Shockingly, Luke thinks that’s a good thing. That’s why Eric is such a big influence on him.
Luke said that when fans come to his show, he wants it “to be different” than the last time they saw him in concert. He added that Eric does that “really well.”
Eric Wants to Share His True Self with Fans
Eric told Esquire why he was opening his own bar in Nashville. It wasn’t just because he wanted a place to hang out and drink with his buddies like Morgan.
Eric confessed that he wanted a Nashville “venue” to perform shows with a “kind of raw honesty.” He wanted to perform “unique” songs that honor national tragedies, including the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Vegas back in 2017. Shockingly, Eric made a personal confession, too.
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He told Esquire that he wanted a place where he could reveal to fans how he almost passed away. Shockingly, there was a “period” in Eric’s life where he had some “sh*t going on,” and he “didn’t really address it.”
Opening Chief’s in Nashville will allow Eric to reveal his true self to his fans. He called it a “great place” to hold “very intimate” shows in a 450-seat hall with a very “Broadway” vibe.
