Eric Church defends ‘difficult’ Stagecoach setting after fans abandon gospel-inspired performance: What to know

Eric Church has addressed his polarizing Stagecoach performance. The acclaimed singer, who headlined the country music festival for the fifth time last week, was skewered online for his gospel-inspired acoustic set. It seems fans expected Church to dazzle the packed audience with an energetic rendition of his hits. That is not what happened. Here’s what everyone is saying about the controversial performance.

Church defends ‘the most ambitious set of [my] career’ in statement

“This was the hardest set I have ever attempted,” the Grammy-nominated artist said in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment. “I’ve always found that going back to where you started, going back to chasing who Bob Seger loves, who Springsteen loves, who Willie Nelson loves, is chasing it back to the source. The origin of all this is still its purest form. And we don’t do that anymore. It was good at this point to go back, get a choir and do this.”

Church continued: “For me, it’s always been something with records, with performances, I’ve always been that, ‘Let’s do something really, really weird 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 edge, is where all the new guys are going to gravitate to anyway. So if you can always challenge yourself in that way, the cut will always be sharper than any other advantage.”

How was Church’s performance?

The country star, along with a 16-person choir, sang several covers during her 75-minute set on April 26. Some of these songs included “Hallelujah,” “Take Me to the River,” “Stand By Me” and even “Gin and Juice.” Church sat down and played with an acoustic guitar.

Fans divided over Church’s performance

It seemed like a lot of people at Stagecoach in Indio, California were disappointed, judging by the posts on X.

“He hasn’t left the stool yet and most of the songs are choir covers. This is not what we came for,” one attendee tweeted, asking Stagecoach to refund the pricey $600 ticket.

The Desert Sun stated that Church “sent festival attendees to the exit…about 15 minutes later, a sight that could best be described as Moses parting the Red Sea.”

However, some people watching from home enjoyed the unique setting.

This isn’t the first time Church has confused fans

At the 2023 CMA Fest, which he also headlined, Church faced backlash when he didn’t play hits like “Springsteen” and instead opted for soulful renditions of other songs. Church said later Rolling Stone he was “shocked” by the fans’ reaction.

“We had a schedule and I went there to play at that time and try to show a little bit, a peek, at what I was working on. [my upcoming] tour,” he said. “I’m not going [reveal] everything, but I’ll take a peek at what it could be. And there were some production things I wasn’t responsible for – when the lights came on [at the end of the set], it was not me. But for what I did, it was quick and difficult. And shows are like that.”