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Eric Church opens his Holdin' My Own tour at Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2017. Church will return to Lincoln in January to open the 2022 leg of his next tour.
Shortly after 8 p.m. Friday, Eric Church walked up to a microphone in the middle of a runway, strapped on an acoustic guitar and began playing "Mistress Named Music."
Joined by his six-person band, then a white robed choir from Omaha South, Church powered through the song, impressively kicking off his "Holdin' My Own" tour.
After moving rapidly through "Country Music Jesus," "The Outsiders" and "Knives of New Orleans," Church welcomed the crowd of 14,700 to night one of the tour, then promised a show so high-energy either he or the crowd would drop by the end.
That didn't happen, but Church and company delivered well over 2 1/2 hours of music, spread over two sets.
Translated, that's more than 30 songs -- 10 more than the standard arena show. Make that 30-plus rockin' country songs.
Church's music, largely, is mid-tempo rock, tied to country thematically -- a swinging ode to the power of "Jack Daniels" complete with shots, small town stories à la "Homeboy" and salutes to "Talladega" that became a singalong, and a beer-glasses-held-high "Pledge Allegiance to The Hag."
Every song was wildly received by the crowd -- "There's a reason we started this tour in Lincoln, Nebraska," he said after one particularly raucous response.
The set drew from throughout Church's career reaching back to his second single, "Two Pink Lines,"' revamped for 2017 going up to the title cut of his 2015 album "Mr. Misunderstood."
Fused tight by weeks of rehearsal in Nashville and a couple days in Lincoln, the band was superb -- even when the songs hadn't been practiced.
Midway through the second set, Church used Peyton Manning's "Omaha" to audible into unrehearsed songs.
"We have not had a chance to practice all of the songs. That's what makes it fun, he said, proving it by laughing off a lyric fumble a couple songs later on "I'm Gettin' Stoned."
Like "Springsteen" who he celebrates in song, Church has a strong connection with his audience, even in an arena, and plenty of songs they know and love.
That's why Church is the rare artist -- in country or any other genre -- who can pull off a three-hour show, which he did impressively Friday.
Eric Church opens his Holdin' My Own tour at Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2017. Church will return to Lincoln in January to open the 2022 leg of his next tour.