Eric Church might have pushed even himself to his limits with his current Double Down Tour. The North Carolina native committed to playing two consecutive nights in most cities, without an opening act, making it one of the most arduous and demanding tours any artist has ever attempted. As the Double Down Tour prepares to wrap up at the end of the year, Church is grateful for the experience, but says he will likely never do it again.
“You had your Friday night set and your Saturday night set, but then you have people that came to both nights,” Church told his record label, UMG Nashville. “I feel like from now on, I hope that we can focus on those people that come one night of the year that they’ve traveled however many miles, they want to hear ‘Round Here Buzz,’ they get to hear ‘Round Here Buzz,’ and I still want it to be unique. I want it to be different, but I don’t know if [I’d do] another tour like this. I think that the Double Down Tour was as far as I want to go from a challenge point.
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“I love that we did it,” he continued. “I love that it was a success. I love that there were people that came to both nights and got it. There were people that came to one of the two nights and got it, but at the same time, it’s not something I would do again. I think that’s good. I think that if you’re a fan, you got to see something that – we stretched and you’re not gonna get to see it again. I’ve been to some of those shows before, a fan of artists, and I knew that I was not gonna see this again. For the Double Down Tour, they saw something they’re never gonna see again.”
Church was inspired to kick off the Double Down Tour after his previous Holdin’ My Own Tour, where Church played more than three hours each night, also without an opening act.
“What I love is last time we went to Detroit, for example, and [it was] one of the best shows on the tour,” Church recalled. “We played three hours, 10 or 15 minutes, and I remember that night as I was on the bus after going, ‘How in the world are we gonna top this?’ Well, one way to do it is do two nights and instead of three-and-a-half hours, it’ll be seven hours of music, and we’re just gonna stay there and make it about this spiritual, musical experience. I think that’s what the last tour really taught me is there is a different level of where touring can go for us and for the fans.
“I had not experienced that in my career until the Holdin’ My Own Tour,” he added. “So, this, I’m hoping is a continuation on that, and we go to a place we hadn’t been yet, ’cause they’ve already taken me places I never thought we’d get to.”
Church performed only one night in Nashville on his Double Down Tour, breaking an attendance record previously held by Taylor Swift, with 56,521 coming out to see Church perform at Nissan Stadium. Find tour dates at EricChurch.com.
Photo Credit: Getty / Erika Goldring
