Disgruntled Fans Lave Eric Church Show Early

In the world of live music, few things are as disheartening as when an artist deviates from fan expectations. Recently, country music sensation Eric Church found himself at the center of controversy when a significant portion of his audience left a concert feeling dissatisfied. The reason? Church's decision not to perform some of his most beloved hit songs and instead replaced with a gospel acoustic set and covers.

Known for high-energy performances, Church changed things up and started his set with nearly half an hour of a spiritual acoustic performance accompanied by a full gospel band. The "Springsteen" singer then went into performing covers of popular songs of every genre, such as Snoops Dog's "Gin and Juice" and 2Pac's "California Love." By the time he got to his own hits, a majority of the crowd had left disappointed.

Being roundly criticized, the artist broke the silence in a press release with his record label where he said, "This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted." Church continued by saying, "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 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."

Not all festivalgoers were disappointed; in fact, many called the performance "iconic" and "a heck of a show," whereas others were confused and angered. This would not be the first time for such disappointment by Eric Church fans. In 2019, he performed a 17-song acoustic assortment that was missing much of his biggest hits, such as "Springsteen."

Although it was not unlikely for the "Talladega" singer to perform acoustically as a festival headline set, fans were less than impressed. Many of the crowd were long-time Eric Church fans, but some only knew him by his hits, which he failed to play for a majority of the show. As a sold-out show at one of the biggest country music festivals of the year, many are questioning the timing of Church's experimental choices.