{"id":2085883,"date":"2025-10-12T14:59:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T14:59:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2085883"},"modified":"2025-10-12T14:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T14:59:11","slug":"country-musics-eric-church-makes-statement-at-rocket-arena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/country-musics-eric-church-makes-statement-at-rocket-arena\/","title":{"rendered":"Country music\u2019s Eric Church makes statement at Rocket Arena"},"content":{"rendered":"

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Country music\u2019s iconoclast did it again. <\/p>\n

Expanding the boundaries of the genre for nearly two decades, Eric Church last night showed why he\u2019s the Chief, turning in another roughly 30-song, 2.5-hour set to a nearly packed Rocket Arena. <\/p>\n

The \u201c2025 Free The Machine Tour\u201d stop began before it even started with a wink from the singer blasting Pink Floyd classics, including the apt \u201cWelcome to the Machine,\u201d over the PA. <\/p>\n

The show kicked off with Church — backed by a 24-piece band that included full string and horn sections, as well as background singers — doing the most prog rock thing possible by performing his latest effort, \u201cEvangeline vs. The Machine,\u201d in its entirety. <\/p>\n

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\"Eric<\/picture>
Eric Church performed Oct. 11 at Rocket Arena. (Courtesy of Anthony D\u2019angio)Courtesy of Anthony D\u2019angio<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Such a risky and bold move — rarely, if ever, seen in country music — is normally associated with often self-indulgent, creative and confident artists challenging audiences to keep up.<\/p>\n

Well, the Rock Hall City crowd enthusiastically passed the test, singing along to the new album\u2019s eight songs, which included lead single \u201cHands Of Time,\u201d the back-porch swagger of \u201cBleed On Paper,\u201d Charlie Daniels tribute \u201cJohnny,\u201d gospel-driven \u201cDarkest Hour\u201d and off-tempo \u201cClap Hands.\u201d <\/p>\n

Crazy as it sounds, the latter is a Tom Waits cover, which climaxed with the arena singing and clapping along. <\/p>\n

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\"Eric<\/picture>
Eric Church performed Oct. 11 at Rocket Arena. (Courtesy of Anthony D\u2019angio)Courtesy of Anthony D\u2019angio<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Despite the fact Church is undeniably a country music artist, there\u2019s a reason why seemingly every one of his concert reviews for the past 20 years has included \u201crocking\u201d in the headline. <\/p>\n

The streak continued last night after the 10-time Grammy Award-nominee — four years removed from his last Rocket Arena show and two years since he appeared at Blossom Music Center — launched into hard-hitting rockers \u201cDesperate Man,\u201d \u201cStick That in Your Country Song\u201d and \u201cSmoke a Little Smoke.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you guys feeling?\u201d he said. \u201cSorry about not talking. I made it pretty clear this tour is going to be about the music. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to be back here. I used to play the Dusty Armadillo. Sometimes, I go to bed and can still smell bleach, beer and urine. Love the Dusty.\u201d <\/p>\n

Other highlights included the ripping guitar sound of \u201cCreepin\u2019,\u201d the anthemic \u201cThe Outsiders\u201d and crowd-favorite \u201cSpringsteen.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Eric<\/picture>
Eric Church performed Oct. 11 at Rocket Arena. (Courtesy of Anthony D\u2019angio)Courtesy of Anthony D\u2019angio<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The Boss tribute of sorts included what will most likely be the lasting visual memory for many in the crowd. <\/p>\n

Church traded a guitar pick for an American flag that he draped around himself while singing \u201cLike a soundtrack to a Cleveland Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a special evening for Jeff Hajek, who makes it family policy to always bring his boys anytime Church comes through Northeast Ohio. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to spend together as men,\u201d said the Broadview Heights resident. <\/p>\n

\u201cEric Church talks about faith, God and family. That\u2019s why we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

A recent Nashville transplant, son Nick Hajek said, \u201cI\u2019m here with my dad because it\u2019s always fun getting to not only see Church, but to get to spend time with the boys, since I don\u2019t live in Ohio anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if on cue, Church commented during his set about how special it is to look out into the crowd — through his Ray-Bans, of course — to see a multigeneration crowd. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys are raising these kids right,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s good parenting right there.\u201d <\/p>\n

The night opened with the southern jam rock stylings of the highly talented Marcus King Band, which sauntered on stage looking like they came straight from an appearance on \u201cDon Kirshner\u2019s Rock Concert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trafficking in \u201870s blues rock, the five-piece outfit turned in an electric set buoyed by its soulful frontman, who — after advocating for the Marshall Tucker Band to receive Rock Hall induction consideration — turned in a heartfelt cover of \u201cCan\u2019t You See.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cleveland.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Country music\u2019s iconoclast did it again. Expanding the boundaries of the genre for nearly two decades, Eric Church last night showed why he\u2019s the Chief, turning in another roughly 30-song, 2.5-hour set to a nearly packed Rocket Arena. The \u201c2025 Free The Machine Tour\u201d stop began before it even started with a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2085883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2085883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2085884,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085883\/revisions\/2085884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2085883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2085883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2085883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}