Church Brings Blood Sweat and Beers To Nashville

Pyro blasts were a key part of Eric Church's show at Nashville's Bridgestone Arena.

Smoke rolled across the stage Saturday night (5/5) at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena, parting to reveal a chest-thumping Eric Church performing “Country Music Jesus.” Pyro spewed skyward as he sang “there’ll be fire on the mountain.” Raucous energy leads Church’s onstage agenda. He told the sold-out audience he didn’t care if he died, he was going to give us one hell of a show.

Partying is a top priority at a Church concert. Appropriately, dozens of kegs lined the sparsely decorated stage and Chief was never far from the red solo cup situated firmly in a cup holder on his mic stand. In fact, his Blood Sweat and Beers tour gladly revels in party-hearty, self-destructiveness with songs from latest album Chief: “Hungover & Hard Up,” “I’m Getting Stoned,” and “Jack Daniels.” But he didn’t spend all night celebrating his drinking habit, he also devoted much of the set to older hits including “Guys Like Me,” “Hell On The Heart,” and “How ‘Bout You.”

Church bonded with the crowd during his acoustic set.

Chief is an incredible album; one of the best out of Nashville in recent years. It’s a showcase for Church’s unique lyrical perfectionism, and Jay Joyce’s superior hard rock production. Unfortunately a lot of the production nuances that make the album so spectacular got lost in translation from studio to stage.

Thankfully Church’s songwriting fared better in person, particularly when he braved the spotlight solo. Armed with just an acoustic guitar, Church bonded with the crowd on a singalong of “Love Your Love The Most,” and a return to his first album with “Two Pink Lines” and “Sinners Like Me,” which he dedicated to an unnamed Nashville exec who told him early on to pack up and go back to North Carolina. Church more warmly recalled his first tours when he played acoustic sets to crowds of 20. This part of the show was authentic and relatable—it was where he shined.

He should strip away the bravado more often. Instead he has embraced his outspoken and aggressive public persona, even selling merch that says Eric F*%&*n Church.

His stage set is reminiscent of a rock club, offering minimal production save for the sky-high pyro and a few backdrop scrim changes. Had the venue in fact been a smaller club, there’s no doubt that Church would have fulfilled his screaming mid-set promise which was met with wild enthusiasm from the audience: “I am pissed off and I intend to burn this son-of-a-bitch to the ground tonight. Bridgestone Arena give me everything you got.” For a club run energy may be all that’s required, but major arena tours need complex production—video elements, elaborate sets, or a venture into the crowd—to meet the entertainment quota.

Eric Church is Chief.

Toward the end of the night Church upped the performance ante, offering a verse/chorus of “A Country Boy Can Survive,” switching to an upright piano to pick out the notes to latest hit “Springsteen,” and, for the grand finale, shooting smoke from guitars while playing “Smoke A Little Smoke.”

Church and opener Brantley Gilbert are cut from a similar rock-bred rebel cloth. As far as arena headliners go, Church has had somewhat limited radio success. Still, the fans that filled the arena knew every Church hymn and every Gilbert anthem. It was a reminder of the popularity of albums and that artists can build strong careers by steady touring.

Gilbert, who also shares some rock similarities with fellow Georgian Jason Aldean, primed the crowd with the Aldean hit he co-wrote “Dirt Road Anthem.” He was ready to fight on “Take It Outside,” and then cooled down for “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do.” Near the end of his set he left the stage and reappeared at the rear of the arena for a run through the crowd on the floor.

Before the concert, Gilbert was surprised with a Gold plaque to mark shipments of over 500,000 copies of Halfway To Heaven. The Valory Music Co. and CAA hosted the pre-show celebration. After the concert, Capitol Records Nashville hosted a soiree at the arena’s Patron Lounge.

Church performs "Springsteen" on piano.