With the wrapping barely off his fourth and latest studio
release, an opportunity has arisen for UK fans to check out live the latest
instalment in Erich Church’s quest to be a country music game changer. It may
be a brave move to base the name of your record so explicitly on your mission
and only time will tell whether the rules are being re-written. However there
is no doubt that Church is at the top of his game both as a live performer and
a recording artist. It didn't take many listens to appreciate the inner
qualities of THE OUTSIDERS and the experience of seeing him live for the first
time lived up to the hype generated from his one-off debut UK gig last year.
You know the fiddle and steel is not going to make an
appearance at an Eric Church gig, although the banjo appeared from time to
time, but this show, at a packed mid-size venue, was far from a rock extravaganza.
That is not saying there weren’t times when the guitar-laden six piece band
didn’t truly rock the joint but just as THE OUTSIDERS isn’t defined by the ratcheted up sound, the more poignant moments possibly saw the best side of Church as a
performer. There was no more definitive example of this theory than the evening’s
golden moment with the stunning delivery of ‘A Man Who Was Gonna Die Young’ from the new record. An audience
probably split with contrasting knowledge of his career work were highly
appreciative of the moments when the band stepped back to give us more of an
insight of Church the performer rather than just a band front man.
There was certainly no brashness or arrogance about his on
stage persona and at times he came across as a touch humble of the respect he
was getting from a market probably still alien to him. The strength of the
songs he has written, many with anthem-like qualities, is sufficient enough to bring
them to life on the stage. In addition to my personal standout moment, ‘Drink In My Hand’, ‘Sinners Like Me’ and ‘That’s Damn Rock & Roll’ all had an
enthralling feel to their live version, while the crowd gave most love to the
interactive ‘These Boots’, ‘Homeboy’ and encore opener ‘Smoke A Little Smoke’.
Let’s get the facts out first that ‘Springsteen’ is a classic song with sheer sustainability and it was
highly likely that it would bring the evening to a close. Yet it was felt that its
introduction could have been more dramatic to milk the anticipation and the
live version was delivered at a faster pace than the recorded one I've listened to and
enjoyed hundreds of times.Still the audience vociferously played their part on
cue and the song’s lyrical structure continues to amaze me. This evening he
chose to sample ‘I’m On Fire’ to celebrate
The Boss mid-song and there’s no complaints about that.
The hour and twenty five minute set, delivered rather too
early in the evening due to the commercial desire of the venue to clear the
place for whatever they put on for the remainder of the night, was packed full
of songs from across his four albums and was virtually free of chat, which can though sometimes add value to a touring artist’s show. Also on this note, he chose not
to deliver the emotive prelude to ‘Devil,
Devil’ which was a pity as ‘Princess Of Darkness’ is an excellent piece of prose showing Church’s
master depth of genre interpretation. ‘Talladega’,
my favourite track from the new album, was one of the four numbers from this
release omitted off the set list but on the plus side it was great to get a
decent balance of material from the four albums to date.
A new band to me, Cadillac Three, played a lively opening
set with a raucous brand of Southern Rock that has been making waves with those
who are a partial to venturing down this route of country music. They are
certainly an acquired taste and from a personal angle would need further
exploration to make a truly subjective comment on them. However this evening
was all about the rise of Eric Church to the summit of the brand of country music which is under the jurisdiction
of the Nashville majors. Country music has been guided and inspired by its
outsiders for many decades and whether Eric Church joins the elite influential
club remains to be seen. In the meantime the work-in-progress is highly
promising and Eric Church has the gifts, craft and integrity to continue to set
the agenda in steering the rock infused side of country music. His healthy UK
fan base will continue to grow once word gets around and there was no doubt few complaints from this Manchester crowd.
www.ericchurch.com