With mask mandate done, Eric Church’s NC concert feels like a long, warm, overdue hug
At this point, devoted Eric Church fans surely know what they’re getting into if they go to an Eric Church concert, at least in terms of how long one is liable to last.
So, as the clock crept past 9 on Saturday, with still no sign of the country-music megastar, many (most?) of the roughly 17,000 Church devotees who had crammed into Spectrum Center in Charlotte must have known this: It was going to be a very, very late night.
Finally, just after 9:10 p.m., Church started the show, snaking his way around the packed pit, scaling the steps leading up to the stage, and stalking out onto the sprawling, “in-the-round” setup as he growled his way through the first verse of his seething 2020 hit “Stick That in Your Country Song.”
By the time he finished the show — 30-some-odd songs later — it wasn’t Saturday anymore. It was Sunday.
“We have waited a looong time to get here,” Church crowed, smiling, as he swept his dark-aviator-sunglasses-tinted gaze across the crowd during a brief break in the middle of Song No. 3 of his set, “Heart On Fire,” “and we’re not gonna be in a hurry to leave.”
This has been a familiar refrain for the 44-year-old singer-songwriter throughout the hugely successful, hugely ambitious road show he’s dubbed “The Gather Again Tour” — which is his first since the pandemic started and which has consistently featured three-hour, curfew-busting concerts since launching back in September, 35 cities ago.
But Church’s “we have waited a looong time to get here” proclamation felt like it had added meaning in this particular “here.”
Because for whatever reason, prior to Saturday night it had been nine years and just shy of three months since he last brought a tour through the Queen City. That seems like a remarkably looong time in its own right; it seems even looonger when you consider that, during that stretch of time, he’s performed five shows up the road at Greensboro Coliseum.
Church is, as every fan knows, a North Carolina boy, born and raised up just past Hickory in Granite Falls (which, ahem, is at least 40 miles closer to Charlotte than Greensboro). He also did, of course, graduate from Appalachian State University in Boone — and if there are two things Charlotte has a whole heck of a lot of, it’s craft breweries and App State grads.
As such, something felt extra-special about Church’s Spectrum Center show.
For instance, early in the evening, Church teed up his performance of the first song he ever charted — 2006’s toe-tapping country-rocker “How ’Bout You” — by shouting out both Granite Falls and an iconic country-music nightclub.
“One of the first gigs we played close to where I was from is a place called Coyote Joe’s,” said the singer, who did indeed cut his teeth on the Wilkinson Boulevard stage (multiple times) in the aughts. “And to this day, it is still one of the hottest and wildest shows I have ever played.”
Later, as Church sang 2009’s “Carolina” near the concert’s midpoint, a fan gifted Church with a North Carolina state flag that was embroidered with the words “Welcome Home, Chief,” a nod to the nickname that’s grown on him since putting out 2011’s “Chief,” the album that cemented his status as a country star to be reckoned with.
And as his soaring voice glided through to that song’s finish — Oh, Carolinaaa / Ohhh, Car-o-liiina / Carrr-o-liiinaaaa / Carrroliinaa / a-Keep callin’ me hoooooooooome — the crowd reached a state of euphoria. After he sang the final note, the house lights came up and Church basked in the thunderous revelry.
You couldn’t see it in his eyes because of those sunglasses he never takes off, but you could see it on his face. I mean, if he wasn’t truly, madly and deeply in love with that moment, I say give the guy the Academy Award for Best Actor right now.
He wore the same look again over an hour later, as he stood on the stage by himself with his acoustic guitar and added a couple of lines to the end of one of his biggest hits ever, “Record Year”:
Doin’ God knows how, but I’m stuck here
I thank God I get to be stuck right here
Been a long time since I been in Charlotte North Carolina
Yes, havin’ a record year
Fans responded by bellow-chanting “CHIEF! CHIEF! CHIEF! CHIEF! CHIEF! CHIEF!”
Then, once they settled down, he got nostalgic again, noting the fact that he “used to come here when they had the old Independence Arena (now Bojangles Coliseum). ... I watched the Ice Capades there one year.”
He quickly added: “There’s zero percent chance that I would be where I am if it weren’t for North Carolina and the people of North Carolina. And it just feels fitting to end on this one,” then closed the main part of his set with a wonderfully understated solo-acoustic rendition of another early-days track, “Sinners Like Me.” (That turned out, of course, to not be the end. He returned for an encore.)
Local flavor aside, Church’s big homecoming also had all the jubilant hallmarks of a “normal” Eric Church show.
During “Drink in My Hand,” as if on cue, a fan in the pit handed Church a smuggled-in mini-bottle of Jack Daniels that the singer opened, turned upside down over his mouth ... and spilled all over his chin. Yeah, some of it got into his mouth, but probably only about half (though I don’t blame him at all; if he wants to put on a long, great show, he needs to hang onto his edge).
During “Smoke a Little Smoke,” as if on cue, there was almost immediately a powerful scent of marijuana wafting through the section I was in. I’m guessing there probably was in your section, too.
During “These Boots,” as if on cue, the scores of people who were wearing cowboy boots took one of them off and hoisted the piece of footwear in the air like they just did not care. Next thing you knew, he was holding three of them in his hands, sticking guitar picks in them, autographing them, and tossing them back out to their owners.
Speaking of autographs, he (and his support vocalist — the soulful, fiery Joanna Cotten) seemed to give out hundreds of them Saturday night.
Church signed Chase Elliott and vintage Dale Earnhardt flags, fittingly, during “Talladega.” He signed a Granite Falls town flag, fittingly, during “Give Me Back My Hometown.” He signed a Merle Haggard album cover, a Bruce Springsteen album cover, and even a few covers of his own records.
He signed trucker hats, canvas photos, posters, homemade signs, T-shirts. He also fist-bumped fans, high-fived fans, hugged fans, kissed fans’ hands, and drank sips of fans’ beers.
It should be said that on the morning of the show, Spectrum Center sent out an email to ticket-holders reminding them that Mecklenburg County had rescinded its mask mandate effective Saturday. With that change, “starting with tonight’s Eric Church concert, masks will no longer be required, but are recommended.”
I saw barely anyone wearing a mask.
And I have to admit, it felt far more exhilarating than I’d anticipated it would. Of all the concerts I’ve attended since live music returned last summer — at least a dozen — this one felt closer to normal than any other.
Which brings me to the glorious highlight of a show that was full of them. After teasing his signature song with a verse and a chorus of Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,” Church launched into the 2012 ode to both The Boss and to young love: “Springsteen.”
At first, the singer prowled the length and width of the stage, beating his chest as he sang the chorus. Then, as the house lights came up again, he ventured down into the pit, where he was swarmed by fans jockeying for his attention. He posed for selfies, signed everything in sight, gave yet more high-fives, yet more hugs, yet more kisses, had yet more sips of fans’ drinks.
“I have dreamed many nights, stuck in Covid hell, about this. About getting together again,” Church said while wading through fans, That Look on his face returning in spades. “We are meant to be together. We are meant to sing together ... and drink together.
“This song, and tonight, is about that.
For those that had gathered at Spectrum Center Saturday night, that togetherness would last another half-hour, until 12:03 a.m. Sunday.
After Church finally, quietly, left the stage — following a solo acoustic performance of “Those I’ve Loved” that had even tough guys pretending something had gotten stuck in their eye — the arena stayed dark for another full minute.
Had he returned, and had he vowed to keep playing till fans couldn’t afford to stay any longer, a lot of them might still be there.
Eric Church’s setlist
1. “Stick That in Your Country Song”
2. “Country Music Jesus”
3. “Heart On Fire”
4. “That’s Damn Rock & Roll”
5. “Drowning Man”
6. “How ’Bout You”
7. “Round Here Buzz”
8. “Drink in My Hand”
9. “Hell of a View”
10. “Russian Roulette”
11. “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag”
12. “Homeboy”
13. “Smoke a Little Smoke”
14. “Knives of New Orleans”
15. “Rock & Roll Found Me”
16. “Carolina”
17. “These Boots”
18. “Higher Wire”
19. “Mr. Misunderstood”
20. “Hippie Radio”
21. “Creepin’”
22. “Cold One”
23. “Desperate Man”
24. “Talladega”
25. “Jenny”
26. “Like Jesus Does”
27. “Give Me Back My Hometown”
28. “Springsteen”
29. “Some of It”
30. “Record Year”
31. “Sinners Like Me”
Encore:
32. “Chevy Van” / “Love Your Love the Most” / “Hell On the Heart”
33. “Those I’ve Loved”
This story was originally published February 27, 2022 at 12:36 PM.
