Eric Church Is Replacing Luke Bryan At Three Festivals This Weekend & It Sounds Like He’s Going Acoustic

Is it too late to book a trip for the weekend?

Luke Bryan has been battling illness recently that caused him to refund the entire crowd at his show in Arkansas last week after powering through vocal issues:

@sonya_roberson

Luke Bryan refunded all of our tickets because he lost his voice #fyp #foryou #lukebryan #arkansas

♬ That’s My Kind Of Night – Bridge – Luke Bryan

After performing that show, Luke announced that he would be rescheduling his shows this past weekend in Dallas, Texas and LaFayette, Louisiana. But apparently Luke is still on the mend, and just announced that he’s going to have to take another weekend off to recover.

Luke was scheduled to headline a trio of festivals this weekend, including Country Stampede in Bonner Springs, Kansas on Thursday, NEBRASKAland Days on Friday, and Country Jam Colorado on Saturday night. But he just announced that he’s not going to be able to make those shows – so he has a friend filling in for him.

Eric Church will be replacing Luke at all three festivals, but apparently getting his entire operation on the road on such short notice has forced Church to come up with something new for the crowds.

In a statement announcing the performances, Church said he was bringing along longtime backup singer Joanna Cotten for what he promised would be “something unique and spontaneous.”

“Festivals are part of the fabric of what made us who we are. Happy to fill in for Luke while he’s on the mend. Not a lot of time to plan or get the whole crew and band together, so I’m bringing Jo and we’re gonna do something unique and spontaneous.”

Church wasn’t previously scheduled to perform until his three-night run of shows at Red Rocks next month, so obviously putting a full band show together on such short notice when you’re not already on the road presents some logistical challenges. But it sounds like Church has something even better in store for the crowd: An acoustic show with just him, Joanna, and his guitar.

Of course I’m just speculating, but Church is already planning on doing an acoustic show at Red Rocks, so it sounds like he’s just going to perform these festivals acoustic too. And while he may have gotten some backlash for his acoustic set at Stagecoach, I honestly can’t think of anything better than going to a festival and getting a full headlining acoustic performance from Eric Church.

If you’ve seen his shows before, you know that he usually includes an acoustic portion where he just plays whatever he feels like playing at the time – and it’s always incredible.

Obviously this is a little different than the Stagecoach set, which tooks months of prep to put together. Church was called up for these performances on short notice, and he had to improvise a little bit so he can deliver a memorable performance. And it sounds like that’s exactly what he’s got in store.

If you’re going to be at one of these festivals, you’re in for a treat. And if you’re not…well, you still have time to buy tickets.The post Eric Church Is Replacing Luke Bryan At Three Festivals This Weekend & It Sounds Like He’s Going Acoustic first appeared on Whiskey Riff.