Country music star Eric Church has broken his silence after his controversial performance at Stagecoach caused some fans to walk out and ask for refunds.
“This was the most difficult set I've ever attempted,” the 46-year-old said in a statement, according to PEOPLE. “I've always found that if you take it back to where it started and go after who Bob Seger loves, who Springsteen loves, who Willie Nelson loves, you go back to where it started. The origin of all things is still its purest form. And we don't do that much anymore. In this moment, it felt good to go back and do that with the choir.
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“For me, it was always about the record and the performance, and it was like, 'Let's do something really, really weird and weird and take a chance,'” he added. “Sometimes things don't work out, but it doesn't matter if you're living on that edge, because that edge, that cutting edge, is where all the newcomers are drawn to anyway. If you challenge yourself, you will always cut sharper than any other blade.”
That's great, but what if you paid to see a typical church show and got a gospel acoustic set seated in front of the red stained glass he provided on Stagecoach? Exclude. Church has covered everything from Leonard Cohen's “Hallelujah” to Snoop Dogg's “Gin and Juice.”
It should be noted that while there were clearly some Church fans who liked the switch-up, there were others who weren't happy and they showed that by walking away.
People started heading for the exits about 15 minutes after the start, according to multiple reports and social media accounts of people who were there.
“@Stagecoach I paid $600 to see a headline about people leaving in droves,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter) along with a video of people leaving. “[Eric Church]is a legend, but he hasn't gotten off his chair yet and most of the songs are covers with choirs. This is not what we came for.”
“No surprise,” someone replied. “He did this for his fans years ago at CMA Fest, when he literally sent the band home and played the most boring acoustic set ever. I've met him countless times. But I won't see him again because I don't know what to expect.”
“He should give back to his fans,” another wrote. “This is a joke.”