On A Rainy Night At Red Rocks, Eric Church Baptized 10,000 Sinners Like Him With An Epic Acoustic Show

It was well past midnight when Eric Church finally left the stage at Red Rocks.

He had long since blown past the venue’s curfew – and his prepared setlist. And everybody in the stands had long since given up on any thoughts of staying dry, after a torrential downpour moved in and seemed to hover over Morrison, Colorado.

Church was winging it, just him and his guitar. But despite the rain, and despite the fact that it was nearly 12:30 and many of the 10,000 people in the stands had been there three nights in a row, the crowd was just fine with standing there as long as he wanted to play.

Just 10,000 sinners being baptized at Church in a night that they won’t soon forget.

The three night run started out with a bang. The first show at Red Rocks featured a full orchestra, choir and horn section as Church ran through his entire Evangeline vs. The Machine album from front to back before playing some of his hits.

But each night, the ensemble behind Church got smaller. The second night, it was just his original band and longtime backup singer and powerhouse duet partner Joanna Cotten for a show that was reminiscent of his shows from a decade ago.

And when Church finally took the stage for the final night, after a short delay caused by lightning that passed through, he walked out by himself before launching into a soaring cover of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

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It was an appropriate opening song, because for the next 2 and a half hours, everybody there was at Church.

Church performed the first seven songs by himself. He paid tribute to his life on the road as a touring artist with his unreleased song “On The Road,” and broke out a new song that he had just written that day called “New Old Me” – which was, as he told the crowd, inspired by a Whiskey Riff article on his show the night before.

It took until song 4, when he launched into “These Boots,” before Church finally got around to playing a song he had previously released. But nobody seemed to mind. As Church mentioned at the beginning of the show, he wanted it to be like he was sitting in his living room. And everybody there was more than willing to join him wherever he wanted to go. (Although he really needs to get the roof in his living room checked because it was leaking like crazy).

Those in the crowd were treated to a rare performance of the unreleased fan favorite “Old Friends, Old Whiskey, Old Songs,” and a “Record Year” medley that wove in everything from “Walking In Memphis” and “Piano Man” to “Luckenbach, Texas” and the theme song from the Dukes of Hazzard.

But Church wasn’t entirely alone on stage. As he performed a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City,” Joanna Cotten appeared onstage to a massive roar from the crowd and a massive grin from Chief. The cast was set for the rest of the evening, and from there, it was on.

Before launching into a performance of Johnny and June Carter Cash’s “Jackson,” Church looked at Joanna and asked: “Are we really doing this?” And they did. And it was incredible.

From there, Church stuck to his own songs for the rest of the setlist (key word here), hitting songs like “Smoke A Little Smoke,” “Hell Of A View,” and even his newest single “Hands Of Time.” But once he wrapped up with his acoustic performance of “Springsteen,” the setlist was over.

The show, though, was anything but.

By this point everybody was soaked. Every time I moved my head, water ran off my poncho like it was pouring off of a roof. The stairs at Red Rocks had turned into a raging river. And the best was yet to come.

Blowing through the venue’s curfew, Church kicked off a 12-song encore of sorts with “Through My Ray Bans” from his 2021 Heart & Soul album. Between each song, he had to tell his guitar tech which guitar to bring him because he was making up the setlist as he went. This was Church at his best, and everybody left in the stands was just there to watch the master at work.

Church joked that he was never going to be invited to Red Rocks again, so he might as well make the most of it. And for over two and a half hours, that’s just what he did. It was a performance worthy of the majestic venue, one that everybody in the stands would have been happy to see keep going well past the time he hit the final notes on “Man Who Was Gonna Die Young.”

The show was an epic exclamation point on a week that served as a statement from one of country music’s all-time great entertainers. There’s nobody else in country music who could have done with Church did: Perform three entirely different shows, including one full acoustic show, on three consecutive nights. Not only is there nobody else who could pull it off, I feel confident in saying there’s nobody else who would even try.

I’m thankful that I got to be there to see it, and dreading having to head to the airport soon to get back to Nashville (and not just because my shoes are still soaked from last night). I came to Red Rocks solo, but I met some incredible people who were around me all three nights that I was lucky enough to be able to share the experience with. The melodies that Church sang from the stage will forever be connected to the memories I made at Red Rocks.

That’s what makes Church such a special, once-in-a-generation entertainer. When he said “for me it’s always been about these songs” in “Those I’ve Loved,” it was a sentiment that was on full display over the three night run. It was about the songs, it was about the journey to get to those songs, it was about those he’s met on that journey and those who have been along from the ride.

It was Church. And on a rainy Wednesday night at Red Rocks, 10,000 sinners like him were baptized on a night that will go down as one of his greatest shows of all time.The post On A Rainy Night At Red Rocks, Eric Church Baptized 10,000 Sinners Like Him With An Epic Acoustic Show first appeared on Whiskey Riff.