Eric Church Walked Around The Arena Without His Sunglasses Before His Grand Rapids Show – And Nobody Recognized Him

Not used to seeing him without his sunglasses.

When you think of Eric Church, you probably envision him and his signature look that’s usually brought together by a pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses.

Church is rarely seen without his sunglasses, which actually started as more of a practical choice than one he made for style. As he discussed with

“I wear contacts, and I’m 6’3”, so on these little stages they have these par can lights. I’ve always had a condition with my eyes where they don’t lubricate real well. It’s not a big deal… until you put a contact in and stand in front of par can lights. So every night, I was losing a contact, I was losing both contacts.

I was blind half the show. This went on for a while. Finally, one of my band members said, ‘Hey, have you thought about wearing shades tonight?’ Nobody cared. There were 15 people there. Nobody was at these shows. So my band member said, ‘Put the shades on.’ So I did it, and… it worked. I didn’t lose my contacts. It shielded the heat.”

These days they’ve become part of his persona, something that Church says helps him get into the mentality of showtime:

“Overtime, it became a little bit of, I don’t want to say a cape. But it became a little bit of a cape. Because I was able to put the shades on, and after I’d play a couple of shows, (it signified that) it’s showtime. It gave me a different mentality. It gave me a different mindset.

And then it stuck, once Chief happened, then it was like (my thing). I’m the only guy that goes to the beach and takes my shades off. I become anonymous as soon as I pull them off. It’s the Clark Kent opposite.”

Now, you might not believe Church when he says he becomes “anonymous” after pulling off the sunglasses. Surely you’d still recognize him without the shades, right?

Well maybe not – because even his own crowd didn’t seem to spot him as he was walking among them recently.

Church was in Grand Rapids, Michigan last night for a show at Van Andel Arena on his Free The Machine tour. But before the show started, he decided to take a little stroll around the concourse and test the theory that he could go unrecognized at his own show. As Church recalled:

“Today at 7:00 I put on eyeglasses. I put on my own shirt, had my face on it. I put on a Chief hat. And I made one lap around the concourse. Not one damn one of you sons of bitches recognized me. But I won my bet.

I was walking around going, ‘Chief, let’s go Chief.’ Nobody.”

You just know everybody who passed him in the concourse is kicking themselves right now for not recognizing him. But it just goes to show you what a signature part of his look the sunglasses have become.

But if you’re at an Eric Church show in the future, better keep your eyes peeled. You never know who’s walking around before the show.

Check out Church telling the hilarious story here: