By Adam Lucas

LAKE TAHOE—Eric Church doesn’t play many Wednesday shows.

They aren’t an army of midweek night soldiers, after all. They’re Friday night soldiers.

But Lake Tahoe is an exception. So Church began a two-night stand here on a summer Wednesday night, rolling into town with his family in tow and big plans for what everyone else comes to Lake Tahoe to do—play some golf and get on the water.

It’s a unique environment here. The amphitheater is in the middle of the South Lake Tahoe business district, just barely on the Nevada site of the Nevada-California state line. On one side you’ve got shiny new casinos. On the other side you’ve got historic motor inns like The Ambassador Motor Lodge that look like they haven’t changed very much since the outside world discovered this area during the 1960 Winter Olympics. 

And then right in the middle of everything, you’ve got Eric Church.

“I know it’s a Wednesday night,” he told the crowd early in his two-hour set, “but I don’t give a shit. Tonight we’re going to have a damn good time.”

And so began one of the only Chief shows located within a half-mile of a gondola. Or, as he described the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena, “one of my favorite places to play in America.”

We’re still just a week removed from one of his other favorite places, Red Rocks. Some aftereffects from those three memorable shows still linger. He began “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag” with the intro from “Fat Bottomed Girls,” an arrangement he dusted off last week in Colorado.

“We always try to make these shows different, whether it’s three shows at Red Rocks or two shows here,” he said. “You end up thinking about things you used to do and trying to do them again and you end up getting uncomfortable real fast. I love that. And so we used to do the intro this way during the Sinners Like Me era, and we’re going to do it again tonight.”

He also used a “How Bout You” medley that had been part of the first show at Red Rocks to open the show. So even on a random Wednesday night, he couldn’t stop himself from throwing in a couple of variables. In addition to the medley, there was also a song he was so excited about playing live for the second time since 2022 that he introduced it twice.

That was the case with “Doing Life with Me,” which had been in mothballs for years until he rescued it last week. Suitably moved by getting to spend some summer family time in a prime family time location, Church began explaining how much he enjoys this area and values having his family with him to make some memories.

Only one slight problem: the next song on the set list was “Mr. Misunderstood.” And then, only once that one was finished, came “Doing Life With Me.”

“But I gave my heart to that speech!” he said with a grin as he realized there was still one more song before the one he was introducing. Then he didn’t miss a beat as soon as “Misunderstood” was finished and he was ready to roll right (back) into “Doing Life With Me.”

“So,” he said with that same grin, “as I was saying…”

What he was saying—and proving—was that it didn’t matter that it wasn’t the weekend. He still gave his sunglasses to a young fan in the pit. He still squeezed every possible minute out of the venue’s curfew restrictions, playing right up to the edge of 11 p.m. 

It was also just show one out of two here this week. “So if you see the show tonight and you come back tomorrow night, we’re going to change shit up,” he promised.

One song that’s likely to be on both set lists, though, is “Springsteen.” As the opening notes rang out on Wednesday night, Church looked out over the crowd. “It’s summer,” he said, “and that’s what this song is. It’s summertime in Lake Tahoe, and I don’t care what night it is.”