Thing is, my dad has always told me this in regards to cooking, and I think it applies to life in general and even concert gigs…know your audience. There is a time and place for everything. It’s a time told and tested truth.

Look, I understand that Eric Church likes to outright defy convention live and that he has a pretty punk like attitude towards shows, like an “Eff you, I’m gonna do what I wanna do and I don’t care what the rest of you think.” And honestly, I find him pretty refreshing for that. In your own concerts not in a festival type space, that’s all well and good.

But the thing is, is that from what I can understand Stagecoach isn’t exactly the best place to flaunt with convention or have an “Eff you, I’m gonna do what I want and I don’t care what you think” type of attitude.

I honestly think that the idea behind Eric’s set would have worked amazingly well if he had done it in a different environment, or if he did it as part of an MTV Unplugged style type of session (yes, that show does still exist).

I just don’t think it worked at Stagecoach because…well…I don’t think it is the best place to do such a thing. You HAVE to know your audience in that case, and to give them what they want, even if you don’t want to. Mix in those songs that you want to play with hits, which helps engage the crowd. Or just go the whole hog, and play your hits full on, even if you don’t like it.

Headliners should know their audience and what the audience expects of them.

Jelly Roll, on the other hand, clearly knew Stagecoach’s audience and who he was playing for, which was why his set was acclaimed compared to Eric’s. It also helps that Jelly is still a relative newcomer to the whole industry, whilst Eric is a relative veteran.

It also occurs to me that Eric might not have wanted to be there, in contrast to Jelly.