Eric Church kicked off his highly-anticipated The Gather Again Tour on Friday (Sept. 17) with a sold out show in Lexington, Kentucky at Rupp Arena.
The country superstar offered a 3 hour performance in-the-round with a 36-song setlist, that included tracks from his latest project, Heart & Soul, such as “Hell Of A View,” “Heart On Fire,” “Stick That In Your Country Song,” “Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones” “Bad Mother Truck” and more. The set also featured dozens of fan-favorites and hits, including “Springsteen,” “Drink In My Hand,” “Record Year,” “Round Here Buzz,” “That’s Damn Rock & Roll,” “Smoke A Little Smoke” and more.
“The hardest thing I’ve done thus far in my career is this setlist,” Church previously shared. “It’s not a normal record; it’s three. So, you add 28 songs to what we already had going, which is a pretty stacked and packed setlist, and when you start to try to get rid of stuff and change it every night – which I’m committed to; we’re still going to play the different set, we’re going to give people different experiences – it has been maddening.”
“It’s the most musical we’ve ever been,” Church continued. “To see the way the new music happens in the show is something that I’m excited just to see and, also, we’re trying to reimagine songs that we’ve played 100 times, playing them different, and that’s just fun. It’s fun for us to do. There’s going to be a lot of songs that fans aren’t gonna recognize at first, that we’re gonna start singing and they’re going to go ‘oh yeah, that’s that song.’ So, I think it’s just fun after this many years to change it up and make it about music; make it musical. I’m just excited to see the reaction.”
The top-notch tour production includes a 2,400 square foot multi-level in-the-round style stage, 11 tour busses, 20 trucks, a 127,000-pound lighting rig and four 836 square foot video walls.
“I’ve never played a stage like this in my career… I’ve never seen anybody play one like this,” Church added, speaking of performing in-the-round. “There’s really no front… It’s kind of like a cage match. I mean once we get out there the crowd is everywhere. They’re behind you, they’re on the sides, and I love that…. The reason it’s called The Gather Again Tour is we want people on top of us, and they will be.”
The Gather Again Tour marks Church’s first time on the road since his 2019 Double Down arena tour.
The 55-date arena tour runs throughout the remainder of the year into next and will wrap up on May 20, 2022 in New York City at the famed Madison Square Garden. See a full list of tour dates below.
Setlist
Set One
1. Through My Ray-Bans
2. Desperate Man
3. Stick That In Your Country Song
4. Cold One
5. Heart On Fire
6. Country Music Jesus
7. Break It Kind Of Guy
8. Hell of a View
9. Drowning Man
10. Rock & Roll Found Me
11. Round Here Buzz
12. How ‘Bout You
13. Smoke a Little Smoke
14. These Boots
15. Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones
Set Two
16. Heart Of The Night
17. Russian Roulette
18. Drink in My Hand
19. Talladega
20. Chattanooga Lucy
21. Lotta Boot Left to Fill
22. Homeboy
23. Like Jesus Does
24. Jenny
25. Mistress Named Music
26. Pledge Allegiance to the Hag
27. Never Break Heart
28. Knives of New Orleans
29. Creepin’
30. Mixed Drinks About Feelings
31. Where I Wanna Be
32. Give Me Back My Hometown
33. That’s Damn Rock & Roll
34. Springsteen / Born to Run
35. Record Year
36. Sinners Like Me
See fan-captured photos and video of the tour’s opening night below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT88LuoLuN0/
https://www.instagram.com/p/CT9us2aAu0_/
Eric Church’s ‘The Gather Again Tour’ Tour Dates
Sept. 18, 2021 – Nationwide Arena Columbus, Ohio
Sept. 24, 2021 – Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse Cleveland, Ohio
Sept. 25, 2021 – KeyBank Center Buffalo, N.Y.
Oct. 1, 2021 – Alerus Center Grand Forks, N.D.
Oct. 2, 2021 – Bell MTS Place Winnipeg, Manitoba
Oct. 8, 2021 – PPG Paints Arena Pittsburgh, Pa.
Oct. 9, 2021 – Wells Fargo Center Philadelphia, Pa.
Oct. 15, 2021 – Ball Arena Denver, Colo.
Oct. 22, 2021 – Scotiabank Saddledome Calgary, Alberta
Oct. 23, 2021 – SaskTel Centre Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Oct. 29, 2021 – Rogers Arena Vancouver, British Columbia
Oct. 30, 2021 – Climate Pledge Arena Seattle, Wash.
Nov. 12, 2021 – Thompson-Boling Arena Knoxville, Tenn.
Nov. 13, 2021 – Ford Center Evansville, Ind.
Dec. 3, 2021 – SNHU Arena Manchester, N.H.
Dec. 4, 2021 – UBS Arena Belmont Park, N.Y.
Dec. 10, 2021 – The Anthem Washington, D.C.
Dec. 11, 2021 – The Anthem Washington, D.C.
Dec. 17, 2021 – Bon Secours Wellness Arena Greenville, S.C.
Dec. 18, 2021 – Greensboro Coliseum Greensboro, N.C.
Jan. 7, 2022 – Pinnacle Bank Arena Lincoln, Neb.
Jan. 8, 2022 – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center Sioux Falls, S.D.
Jan. 14, 2022 – Scotiabank Arena Toronto, Ontario
Jan. 15, 2022 – Canadian Tire Centre Ottawa, Ontario
Jan. 21, 2022 – Van Andel Arena Grand Rapids, Mich.
Jan. 22, 2022 – Little Caesars Arena Detroit, Mich.
Feb. 4, 2022 – KFC Yum! Center Louisville, Ky.
Feb. 5, 2022 – Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, Ind.
Feb. 11, 2022 – CHI Health Center Omaha Omaha, Neb.
Feb. 12, 2022 – Wells Fargo Arena Des Moines, Iowa
Feb. 18, 2022 – T-Mobile Center Kansas City, Mo.
Feb 19, 2022 – BOK Center Tulsa, Okla.
Feb. 25, 2022 – Hampton Coliseum Hampton, Va.
Feb. 26, 2022 – Spectrum Center Charlotte, N.C.
March 4, 2022 – Amway Center Orlando, Fla.
March 5, 2022 – Amalie Arena Tampa, Fla.
March 11, 2022 – United Center Chicago, Ill.
March 12, 2022 – Enterprise Center St. Louis, Mo.
March 18, 2022 – Resch Center Green Bay, Wis.
March 19, 2022 – Resch Center Green Bay, Wis.
March 25, 2022 – Legacy Arena at the BJCC Birmingham, Ala.
March 26, 2022 – Simmons Bank Arena Little Rock, Ark.
April 1, 2022 – Dickies Arena Fort Worth, Texas
April 2, 2022 – AT&T Center San Antonio, Texas
April 8, 2022 – Toyota Center Houston, Texas
April 9, 2022 – Smoothie King Center New Orleans, La.
April 15, 2022 – Moda Center Portland, Ore.
April 16, 2022 – Spokane Arena Spokane, Wash.
April 29, 2022 – ExtraMile Arena Boise, Idaho
April 30, 2022 – Vivint Arena Salt Lake City, Utah
May 6, 2022 – Pechanga Arena San Diego, Calif.
May 7, 2022 – STAPLES Center Los Angeles, Calif.
May 11, 2022 – Golden 1 Center Sacramento, Calif.
May 13, 2022 – T-Mobile Arena Las Vegas, Nev.
May 14, 2022 – Gila River Arena Glendale, Ariz.
May 20, 2022 – Madison Square Garden New York, N.Y.
