By Adam Lucas

BIRMINGHAM—After the last six months of traversing the country, the Free the Machine tour is into the segment with plenty of close to home opportunities.

No more cross-country flights. Now the shows are often a bus ride away, as with Thursday night’s trip to Birmingham, less than three hours down I-65 South from Nashville. It’s a perfect setup for someone who has raised their family on the road. They can get on the bus in the afternoon, watch the NCAA Tournament on the ride, and get ready for the evening’s show.

Eric Church’s beloved North Carolina Tar Heels were not very cooperative on this particular day. In the process of struggling to a devastating loss, they distracted their number one fan from a few other items on his daily to-do list.

“I had one job when I got on that bus,” Church told a lively crowd at Legacy Arena. “Listen to the song I wanted to play tonight because we hadn’t done it in a while. And I got on my bus, I watched some basketball, and I never listened to the song. But we’re going to do it anyway.”

The song was “Bad Mother Trucker,” which was a regular feature on the Outsiders Revival tour in 2023 but hasn’t made many appearances since then, and hasn’t been played at all on this tour.

But did Church still do it, even without complete preparation? Of course he did.

And is it still a jam live? Of course it is.

That was the kind of night it was in Birmingham, with the tour back on stage after a quick 12-day hiatus. These last few dates have been in Knoxville and Greensboro and Charleston and Birmingham—places the fans who pack the arena know Eric Church and have a history with him. 

So they understand that he’s prone to decide on the fly that he wants to make a quick addition. “I’m a big Randy Newman fan,” Church said towards the end of Thursday’s set. So he spontaneously decided to add Newman’s “Birmingham” after “Some Of It.” It was the first time he’s ever played “Birmingham” live in his entire career. But why not?

The evening was supposed to end with traditional tour closer “Through My Ray-Bans.” But why be traditional?

Church again began altering the plan while standing on stage. “Let’s get Jeff (Hyde) back up here,” he said, calling the play while he was standing at the line of scrimmage with a blitz bearing down on him. “I’m going to say a few words while everyone figures out what the hell I’m doing.”

What he was doing was audibling into a show finale of “Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones,” which is always a huge favorite in the state of Alabama. Even that one has only been played once on this tour—way back in Des Moines, Iowa—but Church knows an Alabama crowd the same way they know him. He knows they love singing along with this song, as you should expect when the arena is just a one-hour drive from Gadsden, Alabama.

Friday will bring another relatively short bus ride, this time east across I-20 from Birmingham to Atlanta. There will be basketball on the television, family on the bus, and a kick-ass show to play…whether the to-do list gets finished or not.