Eric Church

Everyone in the Forum tonight is American. Right? At least they pretended to be. “USA! USA! USA!” came the crowd’s chant as Eric Church took the stage. Flashing green lights, dry smoke and feedback encircled the stage and covered the crowd. “Bong, Bong, Bong, Ba’ dum!” cries Church as he flicks his hand toward the back of the room and the crowd return the call. Everyone knows Eric Church; everyone knows the opening to 2012’s opening track Creepin’ and everyone will be an Americana fanatic. At least for tonight anyway.

In a packed Forum, the impact of Church’s performance is nothing if not Rock n Roll. Plug in, crank it up and rock their asses! Appearing on Later with Jools Holland the night before, Church’s Drink in my Hand – which peaked at number 1 in the US Country charts and number 40 on the Hot 100 in 2011 – closed the show. With its lyrics regaling the desire of a blue-collar 9 to 5 overworked southerner to find solace with ‘a drink my hand’, Church’s image could be confused not only with ‘country music’ but also that other blue-collar hero, the
eponymous Bruce Springsteen, a homage to whom Church paid in his 2012 single (and break out hit in the UK).

But tonight the Forum is packed with those who know the true calling. Church brings rock and roll back to basics. Half way through Drink My Hand, Church cries – “We’ve just been gettin’ stretch out until now! From here on out, I’m going to give you everything I got – you’ve got to give it back to me, London! Are you with me?”

The set was electric, full of nearly every song from Chief – Church’s best effort to date – and staple classics from the past few years – Smoke a Little Smoke, a surprise Two Pink Lines during the acoustic interlude, ‘Pledge Allegiance to the Hag’ – and finishing with ‘Springsteen’, slipping ‘Born to Run’ for good measure.

The impact of this heavy rock inspired ethos makes what some would see as country music turned up loud something altogether different. The Americana it is rooted in is a mere façade to the underlying gusto of Church’s act. His band resembles figures of starred Rock History and Church’s hidden visage, covered by his Ray Ban sunglasses and Trucker Cap, make his rendition of Chief’s Country Music Jesus all the more tongue-in-cheek as you see him smirk the lines calling for “some long haired hippie prophet, preaching from the book of Johnny Cash.” Church though preaches from his own book.