Eric Church has defended his polarising headline performance at Stagecoach festival this weekend, which prompted many fans to walk out.
The country artist performed a gospel-inspired set at the festival in Indio, California on Friday (April 26) which featured numerous covers including 2Pac‘s ‘California Love’ and Snoop Dogg‘s ‘Gin And Juice’.
He was also joined on-stage by regular collaborator Joanna Cotten, accompanied by his guitar and backed by a 16-person choir. But the performance was reportedly met by boos and some audiences left to watch Nickelback instead.
The performer has since responded in a press release issued after the show (per Billboard), sharing that the set was “the most difficult” he has “ever attempted”.
“I’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 don’t do that as much anymore. It felt good at this moment to go back, take a choir and do that,” he said.
“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 okay 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. So if you can always challenge yourself that way, it always cuts sharper than any other edge,” he said.
While some fans appreciated watching the singer-songwriter do something totally different, others argued it was the wrong occasion.
@Stagecoach we paid $600 to see a headline where people are mass leaving… @ericchurch is a legend, but he hasn’t gotten off the stool and most songs are covers with the choir. This isn’t what we came for. pic.twitter.com/GcsMrqAIT7
— Anastassia Olmos (@StassiOlmos) April 27, 2024
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Okay but @ericchurch’s opening at Stagecoach: ICONIC. pic.twitter.com/Cg6de1Beeo
— ✨Chelsea J (@CJlovesJD) April 27, 2024
Closing the first day of Stagecoach gave @ericchurch an opportunity to gain so many fans who had never probably seen him live. The thought process to do a gospel set at 10pm on a Friday night for 100,000 plus is just a thought process I can’t understand. #Stagecoach
— Markm351 (@markm351) April 27, 2024
Tonight he’s really putting the CHURCH in Eric Church! #Stagecoach
— Jason Feffer (@ThatsFeffedUp) April 27, 2024
Eric Church gonna play any of his own songs or no? #Stagecoach
— Andy Witt Jr. (17-38) (@randywatt) April 27, 2024
Lots of folks dumping on Eric Church for his set list last night at Stagecoach.
I’m just over here loving that the QUEEN OF QUEENS was on stage with him.
THE JOANNA F’ING COTTEN!— Phillip Newman (@tridaddyphil) April 27, 2024
Bold move of Eric Church to do a gospel set for his headlining slot at #Stagecoach
— Jason Feffer (@ThatsFeffedUp) April 27, 2024
Elsewhere, Lana Del Rey covered ‘Unchained Melody’ with country star Paul Cauthen at Stagecoach.
The duo sang the song, made famous by The Righteous Brothers in 1965, to close out Cauthen’s set at the festival.
Post Malone also played an entire set of classic country cover songs for his Stagecoach set.