Concert Review: Eric Church's singalong party anthems a hit

OTTAWA ? A year ago, most people had never heard of Eric Church. Today the country singer from North Carolina is blazing his way across Canada on his first headlining tour, and he?s filling arenas in every city with thousands of beer-drinking, plaid-shirted fans under the age of 30. In some cities, he?s outselling Bon Jovi.

On Saturday night at Scotiabank Place, in his trademark ball cap and shades, Church demonstrated his superstar potential with what was essentially a rock concert filled with singalong party anthems about less-than-wholesome pursuits, such as drinking beer and whiskey, and smoking funny stuff. Good times for the huge crowd of 15,000 people.

The party started with a blast of pyro, igniting the country music call-to-arms of Country Music Jesus, followed by Guys Like Us, Church?s beer-soaked toast to the common man. Backed by a band that sounded more like Metallica than Merle Haggard, Church was the bad-boy host of an epic bash where rowdiness prevailed. One fleet-footed fan actually got past security and made it on stage, only to dive back into the crowd.

?I?m havin? a damn good time tonight,? Church remarked at one point, as if the grin on his face wasn?t giving him away. In his hand between songs was a plastic cup of Jack Daniels whiskey, or so he said, while a pot-leaf version of the Canadian flag served as the stage backdrop, the most colourful part of a minimal stage setup. This was not his first time in the Sens? home, by the way. Church first appeared in 2007 on a tour opening for Dierks Bentley.

Bearing the rasp of whiskey and smoke, Church?s deep voice had a tendency to chug through songs like How ?Bout You and Hungover and Hard Up, but loosened nicely as he caressed the seductive groove of Creepin? (while wielding a banjo and dodging a barrage of green laser beams). To downshift the party a tad, the 35-year-old also played a handful of songs in solo-acoustic mode, including Like Jesus Does and Sinners Like Me, gently deploying them with a Cash-like resonance.

Of course, Springsteen was the song everyone waited for, and Church saved it for the final encore. He played almost all the songs from his firecracker of a third album, Chief, wrapping up the main set with Homeboy before building up to the big moment with Smoke a Little Smoke and These Boots. When it came, everyone held up their flashlight apps and sang along, and life imitated art: A song about a great night at a concert closed off a great night at a concert.

Source: http://feeds.canada.com/~r/canwest/F294/~3/KS14GJLrrSU/story.html

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