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Eric Church Reflects On The End Of His ‘Free The Machine’ Tour: “Favorite Tour We’ve Ever Done”
That’s a wrap.
After 46 shows, Eric Church brought his Free the Machine Tour to an end this past weekend with a marathon show at Benchmark International Arena in Tampa, Florida.
The show started out the same way the tour started way back in Pittsburgh last September: With Eric and 24 others behind him on stage performing his latest album, Evangeline vs. the Machine, from front to back. But as anybody who’s been to an Eric Church show knows, the only thing you can really count on is not knowing what you’re going to get.
Over the course of the tour, Eric played over 80 different songs, ranging from his own deep cuts like “The Snake” and “Livin’ Part of Life” to covers from Guy Clark, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Toby Keith, and more.
It was entirely unpredictable. At times it was chaotic, like when Eric ran out on stage for his final show in a boot after breaking his leg and without his signature sunglasses, which he had forgotten and had to have delivered to him mid-song.
But at the end of the day, it was all about the music. Whether that music was Church standing alone on the stage with just his guitar singing “Sinners Like Me” or a full ensemble of band, horns, strings and choir soaring through “Evangeline,” the Free the Machine Tour truly put the music center stage in a way that you rarely see these days.
So it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that Church called it his favorite tour that he’s ever done.
During the final show of the tour, Chief took some time to reflect on the journey that he – and the 24 others with him on stage – had been on:
“We’ve done a lot of tours, and this is my favorite tour we’ve ever done. …
Everybody you see behind me are THE baddest motherf–kers on the planet. And it has been a pleasure to share the stage with them every night.”
Now, calling it his favorite tour that he’s done is a big statement, considering some of the incredible tours Church has embarked on over the years. There was the Blood, Sweat and Beers Tour back in 2012, his first arena tour and the first tour after the release of his breakout album Chief. And then there was The Outsiders World Tour, his first tour as a bonafide superstar.
The Holdin’ My Own Tour in 2017 was in support of his surprise album Mr. Misunderstood, and he followed that up with the Double Down Tour, where he played two shows in every city, featuring no opening act and a different setlist every night.
At the time, the Double Down Tour was the most ambitious tour Church had ever done – and ended with him breaking the attendance record at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. But then, COVID hit, and Church was one of the first major artists to find a way to get back out on the road with his Gather Again Tour. Once again Church showed that he wasn’t afraid to take risks, and started out the tour by performing two sets each night – again with no opening act. But by the end of the tour he had scrapped the intermission break and was just playing three hour shows without stopping.
As Church acknowledged on stage this past weekend, you never really know what you’re going to get from an Eric Church tour, and he proved that with his 2023 Outsiders Revival Tour: An amphitheater tour featuring openers like Lainey Wilson, Whiskey Myers, Jelly Roll, Cody Jinks, Koe Wetzel, Shane Smith & the Saints, Red Clay Strays, and a ton of other badass artists handpicked by Church himself.
On that tour, he gave us a glimpse of what would eventually become the Free the Machine Tour when he was joined by a trio of background singer and a horn section while breaking out deep cuts and new, reimagined versions of some of his biggest hits.
It was more experimental – and a bigger risk – than anything Church had done to that point. It was also divisive: You had the fans who only listened to “Springsteen” and “Drink In My Hand” who weren’t happy that it wasn’t a “traditional” tour, but you also had the Church Choir who embraced the opportunity to see something unlike any other show they had seen before.
The Free the Machine Tour felt like a culmination of all those tours. He expanded the ensemble on stage, and Joanna Cotten rejoined Church on tour after stepping away during the Outsiders Revival Tour. He continued what he started on the Double Town Tour and Gather Again Tour and regularly played for 3 hours a night, changing up the setlist night after night, while still including badass openers like Marcus King, Charles Wesley Godwin, Stephen Wilson Jr., Ashley McBryde, and many more.
It may have also been the most risky tour he’d ever done: How would fans react to hearing an entire album front to back? How would fans like hearing a French horn solo, or seeing a four-piece string section on stage? Not to mention the logistics involved with taking an ensemble like that on tour, something that I’m sure kept tour manager Todd Bunch and the massive crew on their toes.
But at the end of the day, and most importantly, it was all about the music. It was about hearing an album as it was meant to be heard, from top to bottom with the full orchestration playing together in sometimes imperfect harmony. It was about celebrating the hits while honoring the deep cuts and fan favorites that have meant so much to the Church Choir that’s followed him from the beginning.
It was about creating magical moments by sharing the stage with his opening acts. It was about stripping it back to the original Eric Church Band, and eventually just himself on stage, connecting melodies with memories for fans who had gathered against the world outside and whose voices roared at the noise of the poet’s rhyme.
As with everything Church does, it was the perfect blend of intention and happenstance. Preparing for the moment, but also capitalizing on the moments that present themselves.
It’s no surprise that it’s Church’s favorite tour that he’s ever done. It’s going to be hard for him to top that one, but as we’ve seen time and time again, if there’s anybody who can find a way, it’s Eric Church.The post Eric Church Reflects On The End Of His ‘Free The Machine’ Tour: “Favorite Tour We’ve Ever Done” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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