On Friday, October 24th Mohegan Sun brought in one of the most anticipated concerts of the year- Eric Church’s The Outsiders World Tour. Eric brought along special guests Brandy Clark and Dwight Yoakam to make this show one helluva lineup from top to bottom. New England Country Music was fortunate enough to be in attendance and review this amazing concert.
The Mohegan Sun arena was just starting to fill up as Brandy Clark took the stage with her band around 7:35 to get the evening rolling. Brandy is not only a talented singer but has also co-written hit songs for Miranda Lambert, Darius Rucker and The Band Perry amongst others. She opened her seven song set with two of her own songs, ‘Stripes’ and ‘Big Day In A Small Town.’ The crowd was buzzing as Brandy’s voice drew everyone in. Next she sang two of her biggest co-written songs to date, Miranda Lambert’s ‘Mama’s Broken Heart’ and The Band Perry hit, ‘Better Dig Two,’ before she slowed things down with a touching ballad called ‘Hold My Hand’ which was followed by a song she wrote herself, ‘Get High.’ Brandy finished up her set by performing ‘Crazy Women’ and ‘Hungover.’ If the fans in attendance weren’t fans of Brandy Clark walking in, they sure were by the time she left the stage.
Dwight Yoakam was next to take the stage and the country legend took the stage with a lot of energy and just as much rhinestones. It was evident by the first chords of ‘Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Loud Music’ that Dwight had the crowd in his hand and wasn’t letting go. Dwight delighted the crowd with a 15-song set which included ‘Little Sister,’ ‘Ain’t That Lonely Yet,’ ‘Streets of Bakersfield’ (originally a duet with Buck Owens) and ‘Ring of Fire.’ Halfway through the set he played a new song for the crowd called ‘Second Hand Heart.’ Introducing the song Dwight said, “I just recorded this and didn’t send it to the label yet. So I won’t hand it in if you don’t like it.” His set was non-stop and seamlessly went from song to song as he had his great guitar skills on full display. To finish up his performance, the crowd was treated to ‘Honky Tonk Man’ (which was the first country music video ever played on MTV), ‘Guitars, Cadillacs’ and ‘Fast As You.’
Next up was the man of the evening, Eric Church. You could feel the anticipation building in the Mohegan Sun Arena as the video screen showed numerous old sold-out posters from Eric’s shows through the years. Just around 9:35, the lights went out and the man everyone came to see was about to preach to his congregation.
Eric Church kicked off his over two hour show with the title track from his top selling album, ‘The Outsiders,’ as his drummer was lowered down from the video screen. The crowd rose to their feet and wouldn’t sit down for a good long time. Wearing his trademark sunglasses, jeans and his guitar in hand, he next broke out crowd favorites ‘Creepin’ and ‘Guys Like Me.’ Eric changed up the lyrics from ‘Guys Like Me’ to say “Thank God there’s crazy ass New England girls like you, for crazy ass guys like us.” The crowd then joined into sing-a-long with ‘Carolina’ and were rockin’ out as he played ‘I’m Getting Stoned.’
Photo courtesy of Mohegan Sun.
The party was just getting started as he broke out his newest single for the crowd, ‘Talladega,’ which caused great reaction as the single already has become a hit throughout country music. Before continuing on, Eric took a moment to raise a glass to the crowd and talk about how he played The Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun ‘seven or eight years ago’ and only had about ten people in attendance, “Tonight is about the music and about people hearing about the music. I’m going to play until you guys get sick of it.”
Church was certainly in session as there was no slowing down and the crowd kept getting louder and louder with each song. ‘Pledge Allegiance to the Hag’ was up next and was the perfect lead-in to ‘Drink In My Hand.’ “This is the part in the show where I’m going to take your temperature. We’re here for two days and have nothing to do tomorrow so we can get as nasty ass crazy as we want,” Eric told the crowd. The headliner’s vocal talent as well as his great guitar playing was on full display and his band was just as good in keeping up. This was evident when they all gathered in the middle of the stage to perform ‘Leave My Willie Alone.’ Eric told the crowd, “This is the first time we’ve played this song in six years and be the last time for the next ten.”
One of the biggest highlights of the show was when the tempo was slowed down and ‘Like Jesus Does’ was performed. This has always been one of my favorite Eric Church songs and even more so now after hearing it played live. You could feel the song resonate through the audience as they quietly sang along with every lyric that came out of Eric’s mouth.
The slow tempo didn’t last long as the songs came fast and furious with ‘Cold One,’ ‘That’s Damn Rock & Roll’ (performed with Joanna Cotton,) ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ and ‘Homeboy’ all in succession. Before playing ‘Dark Side’ Church explained the meaning behind the song, “This is what it means for me to be a parent as I have a three year old and one on the way. If anyone messes with our spouse or our kid… we’ll rip the top off all that darkness inside of us.” The visual highlight of the evening came when ‘Devil, Devil’ began and a giant inflatable Devil rose from the back of the crowd. Spotlights shined down on both the dark figure and Eric as if battling until he raised his middle finger and proclaimed, “Go straight to Hell!”
With the Mohegan Sun crowd electric and clamoring for more, we were treated to ‘Country Music Jesus’ and the arena started to vibrate as the crowd clapped and stomped along to ‘Smoke A Little Smoke.’ This would normally be the point where an artist starts to wrap up their set but not the case with Eric Church as he still had ‘Lotta Boot Left To Fill.’ Hell we even got to do a shot of ‘Jack Daniels’ and this night the show was only ‘Over When It’s Over.’
Photo courtesy of Mohegan Sun.
The second to last song of the night was ‘These Boots’ which has been one of my favorite Eric Church songs since I first heard him play it ten years ago at a small bar in Rhode Island. It was obvious that the crowd enjoyed it just as much as you could see fans raising their boots in the air, as is tradition with Church’s concerts, and some even tossing them up on stage. Familiar chords and lyrics to Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Glory Days’ started to play and was the perfect intro into arguably one of Eric’s most emotional and popular songs, ‘Springsteen.’ There was no song to better end the show with than this as the crowd was totally engrossed and knew every single verse to sing right back to Church.
This has to be one of the best concerts I’ve had the pleasure of attending. Church’s band was electric and the man himself was on his game, between interacting with the crowd and providing such a great set list. Not too often do artists play more than a 2 hour show but an Eric Church show isn’t your normal artist and sure he would’ve played all night. Just goes to show that you don’t need a fancy stage, lights or pyrotechnics to get the audience going. All you need is great music, a great band and a love for your fans! Big thanks to Mohegan Sun for all of your help with the show as New England Country Music truly appreciates it.
This review was written by NECM contributing writer Mike Sullivan. You can follow me on Twitter.