Eric Church has addressed his polarizing performance at Stagecoach. The acclaimed singer, who headlined the country music festival for a fifth time last week, was skewered online for his gospel-inspired acoustic set. It seems fans were expecting Church to dazzle the sold-out crowd with an energetic rendition of his hit songs. That’s not what happened. Here’s what everyone is saying about the controversial performance.
đŁď¸ Church defends ‘the most ambitious set of [my] career’ in statement
âThis was the most difficult set I have ever attempted,â the Grammy-nominated artist said in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment. âI’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 donât do that as much anymore. It felt good at this moment to go back, take a choir and do that.â
Church continued, âFor me, it’s always been something with records, with performances, I’ve always been the one thatâs like, âLet’s do something really, really strange and weird and take a chance.â Sometimes it doesnât work, but itâs okay if youâre 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.â
âŞď¸ What was Church’s performance like?
The country star, along with a 16-person choir, belted out several covers during his 75-minute set on April 26. Some of those songs included âHallelujah,â âTake Me to the River,â âStand By Meâ and even âGin and Juice.â Church sat down and performed with an acoustic guitar.
Right to the soul @ericchurch
Tune in to the @AmazonMusic #Stagecoach livestream, hosted on @PrimeVideo and the Amazon Music Twitch channel. https://t.co/YiNi69SWnm pic.twitter.com/ETlETsqVZQ
â Stagecoach Festival (@Stagecoach) April 27, 2024
đś Fans divided over Church’s performance
It seemed many people on the ground at Stagecoach in Indio, Calif., were disappointed, judging from posts on X.
I am an huge Eric Church fanâŚ. And this show Sucked! I am sad to say, I walked out
â CAVU (@AnthonyCrowel16) April 27, 2024
âHe hasn’t gotten off the stool and most songs are covers with the choir. This isn’t what we came for,â one attendee tweeted, asking Stagecoach to refund the pricey $600 ticket.
@Stagecoach we paid $600 to see a headline where people are mass leaving⌠@ericchurch is a legend, but he hasnât gotten off the stool and most songs are covers with the choir. This isnât what we came for. pic.twitter.com/GcsMrqAIT7
â Anastassia Olmos (@StassiOlmos) April 27, 2024
The Desert Sun claimed Church âsent festivalgoers for the exit … about 15 minutes in, a sight that could be best described as Moses parting the Red Sea.â
However, some people who watched from home enjoyed the unique set.
The #ericchurch #stagecoach hate is wild to me. He put on one heck of a show. That crowd didnât deserve him.#stagecoach2024 #church #choir pic.twitter.com/X83tZzVchD
â Manda (@Manda_PI) April 28, 2024
Iâve worked an Eric Church show selling his merch and lemme tell yall this is exactly the shit Eric Church fans PRAY for so idk why anyoneâs upset?? I also donât know why anyone would be upset about something like this at all anyway⌠sounds cool? And Iâm not even a big fan. https://t.co/lxSVwBZXac
â The Marlboro Maâam (@OG_Rad_Hatter) April 28, 2024
đ¤ This isn’t the first time Church has puzzled fans
At the 2023 CMA Fest, which he also headlined, Church faced backlash when he didn’t perform hits like âSpringsteenâ and instead went for soulful renditions of other songs. Church later told Rolling Stone he was âshockedâ by the fan reaction.
âWe 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 [my upcoming] tour,â he said. âIâm not going to [reveal] everything, but I’m going to give a little peek of what this could be. And there were a couple of production things that I was not responsible for â 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.â