The country star said he wanted to 'take a chance' on an unexpected performance.
Eric Church is offering some context after fans were left stunned during his Stagecoach set over the weekend.
The "Record Year" singer hit the stage for his seventh time playing the Indio, California, music festival on Friday, delivering a surprising and polarizing performance that featured a 16-person choir and his longtime collaborator, Joanna Cotton, putting on a covers-heavy 75-minute setlist. Church performed Snoop Dogg's "Gin and Juice," Tupac Shakur's "California Love," Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," Edwin Hawkins' "Oh Happy Day," Al Green's "Take Me To the River," Ben E. King's "Stand By Me," Loggins & Messina's "Danny's Song," and "This Little Light of Mine." After more than an hour, according to reports, Church mixed in a few of his own offerings including "Springsteen" and "Country Music Jesus."
"This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted," the "Mr. Misunderstood" singer said in a statement on Saturday. "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 added, "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."
Church, Miranda Lambert and Morgan Wallen served as the headliners for this year's three-night festival.
Lambert pulled off her own surprise moment by inviting Reba McEntire on stage to join forces on Lambert's "Mama's Broken Heart," and "Gunpowder & Lead," as well as McEntire's "Fancy" on Saturday.
On Sunday, Church returned to the stage as a surprise guest during Wallen's set to sing their 2023 collaboration, "Man Made a Bar." Wallen also welcomed Hardy, Bailey Zimmerman, Ernest and Post Malone -- singing their unreleased song, "I Need Some Help" -- during his show.
For more on Stagecoach 2024, check out the links below.
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