On February 28, I saw Eric Church at Budweiser Gardens (for the second time) and I'm still exhausted! I don't know how he does this every night. Haha! He really does hold his own and I couldn't imagine having an opening act for this show. It reminded me of seeing Prince and Elton John, how each of them did the whole show with just their bands. What more could you want than a whole show by one of your favourite artists? You never had to sit through an awkward opener, wondering "Who is this band?" It was perfect-- except I didn't book Paratransit late enough to see the entire show. He came out at 8:25 instead of 8 and I had booked the bus for 11:15, thinking he'd be done at 11. Darn you, Eric Church.
The thing was, he didn't care how late the show went and he said that many times. I was in awe of how he just "owned" the stage. Only one word came to mind the entire time, and that was "Badass". One thing I noticed was that this was not a "smiley" guy. Most of my pictures turned out like this one and that's okay. But when he did smile, it was full of gratitude for the audience and you could feel it. He promised he'd give this show everything he had and he did.
There were a few songs that I didn't get to hear which he may have done after I left but I enjoyed every minute that I did see/hear. An interesting thing for me was that I got to see his tour bus back in and they rolled out a red welcome mat that said, "All Access" on it. Then someone came out with a broom and swept it off. Can you imagine having that job? "Hi, I am the official sweeper for Eric Church".
I was certain I saw Eric at one point, but it may have been someone else. He was on that bus though. The same security guard who told me Dierks Bentley was coming told me to have my camera ready, but he's zero for two now, so I'll have to take what he says with a grain of salt next time so I don't freeze.
