Eric Church defends 'difficult' Stagecoach set after fans walked out of gospel-inspired performance: What to know

Eric Church has addressed his polarizing performance at Stagecoach. The acclaimed singer, who headlined the country music festival for a fifth time last week, was skewered online for his gospel-inspired acoustic set. It seems fans were expecting Church to dazzle the sold-out crowd with an energetic rendition of his hit songs. That's not what happened. Here's what everyone is saying about the controversial performance.

??? Church defends 'the most ambitious set of [my] career' in statement

“This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted,” the Grammy-nominated artist said in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment. “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.”

Church continued, “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.”

?? What was Church's performance like?

The country star, along with a 16-person choir, belted out several covers during his 75-minute set on April 26. Some of those songs included “Hallelujah,” “Take Me to the River,” “Stand By Me” and even “Gin and Juice.” Church sat down and performed with an acoustic guitar.

?? Fans divided over Church's performance

It seemed many people on the ground at Stagecoach in Indio, Calif., were disappointed, judging from posts on X.

“He hasn't gotten off the stool and most songs are covers with the choir. This isn't what we came for,” one attendee tweeted, asking Stagecoach to refund the pricey $600 ticket.

The Desert Sun claimed Church “sent festivalgoers for the exit ... about 15 minutes in, a sight that could be best described as Moses parting the Red Sea.”

However, some people who watched from home enjoyed the unique set.

?? This isn't the first time Church has puzzled fans

At the 2023 CMA Fest, which he also headlined, Church faced backlash when he didn't perform hits like “Springsteen” and instead went for soulful renditions of other songs. Church later told Rolling Stone he was “shocked” by the fan reaction.

“We had a time slot and I went out there to play that slot and try to show a little bit, a peek, as to what I was working on for [my upcoming] tour,” he said. “I’m not going to [reveal] everything, but I'm going to give a little peek of what this could be. And there were a couple of production things that I was not responsible for — when the lights went up [at the end of the set], that wasn't me. But for what I went to do, it was fast and hard. And the shows are that way.”