Eric Church Addressed His Controversial Set At Stagecoach 2024: ‘I’m Happy With My Choice’

There’s something about the Indio, California desert environment that pulls out another side of music’s notable names.

For the past two weekends, the Empire Polo Club was home to Coachella 2024. While there were multiple raved about performances, the public’s confusion over Grimes’ technical issues was all users online could talk about. This weekend, Stagecoach 2024 has taken up residence on the grounds. From the two days held so far, folks won’t seem to shut up about Eric Church‘s headlining performance. While Church didn’t experience any device breakdowns, attendees aren’t happy with his set, claiming he committed a cardinal sin of festival commandments—daring to be different.

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Instead of sticking to festivalgoers expectations, Church ventured outside the bounds of country music with a set of mostly gospel and a sprinkle of rap. Users online who streamed the performance via Prime took to their pages to slam Church’s pivot.

According to USA Today, the pushback prompted the singer to address the critiques with a statement issued through his record label.

“This was the most difficult set I have ever attempted,” he said. “I’ve always found that taking it back to where it started, back to chasing who Bob Seger loves, who Springsteen loves, who Willie Nelson loves, you chase it back to the origin. The origin of all that is still the purest form of it. And we don’t do that as much anymore. It felt good at this moment to go back, take a choir and do that.”

Seemingly prepared for the dived, Church doubled down on his decision, saying that he was “happy with his choice to do what he wanted anyway.”

Read a few responses to Eric Church’s Stagecoach 2024 set below.