RED ROCKS—Eric Church’s Tuesday began with a wakeup call from his nephew.

 

“It was the crack of noon,” Church said with a grin, and four-year-old Tate had some thoughts on the set list for the second of Chief’s three straight sellout shows at Red Rocks. He’d enjoyed Monday night’s throwback show, but there were a few songs he didn’t get to hear.

 

You need to understand this about Tate: he knows his stuff. When his uncle broke into “Longer Gone” on Tuesday for the first time since 2022, Tate’s mom, Kendra, looked at her son. “Which album is this one on?” she asked. This was a deep cut. “Longer Gone” was never a single and might require a little thought even from the most ardent Church fan. But Kendra knew she was asking an expert; Tate can name the album for any song in Eric Church’s catalog.

 

“Carolina,” he said immediately.

 

See, this is the kind of guy you want designing your set list. The mix he put together turned into a classic night. Everyone knows they have to be at their best when they come to Red Rocks, from set list designers to singers to everyone on stage.

 

Church bassist Lee Hendricks used to watch the U2 concert video “Under a Blood Red Sky,” which was filmed here, and dream of getting to play the venue one day. “It’s just a spiritual place,” Hendricks says. Now he’s played Red Rocks five times in the past 12 months. 

 

Even to those who have reached the pinnacle of their professions, playing here matters. This is a venue where you see band members, who have seen every stage and every arena, bring their significant others and kids. Being on the road can be solitary, but this is an experience that has to be shared.

 

Guitarist Jeff Cease played here in 1990 when The Black Crowes opened for Robert Plant. He watched Plant’s set from front of house and signed the wall in the tunnel below the seats where artists and crew members add their autographs to commemorate each performance. 

 

That version of Cease probably didn’t fully understand what a special experience he was having. He was young and music was already taking him around the world. But with the benefit of a few more years and a few more Red Rocks performances, Cease today makes sure to savor the opportunity.

 

“Playing Red Rocks is more than just playing in a show, it’s an experience,” he says. Cease loves all of it: the crowd and the setting and the staff (including the legendary Jimmy Mittens at the backstage door). He plays music as his job, which is a pretty cool occupation. But even in his world where someone in the stands is having a lifetime memory every night, Red Rocks is elite. And he sees them.

 

“I have several moments during a show where I get to take things in and appreciate the setting, especially when the audience is into what we are doing, which is usually the case with Eric!” Cease says. “I love the view of Red Rocks from the stage, the rocks and the audience, the big sky.”

 

That view is magical. It’s great looking down at the stage from the seats, maybe catching a glimpse of the Denver skyline from the very top row. But it’s even better standing on stage looking up, the rocks on each side and the 70 rows of humanity all dancing and singing. You could actually see Cease having one of his moments during “Drink In My Hand,” as he looked up into the crowd and cracked a small smile. At a regular concert, there are inevitably people who have to leave early to relieve the babysitter or they’re thinking about an 8 a.m. Zoom meeting tomorrow or they’re on a first date that feels like a dud.

 

That never seems to happen here, at least not when Eric Church is on the stage. For these shows, they arrive early and stand up the entire time and then they go home and tell their friends, which then leads those same friends to try and come the next year.

 

That’s how friends Tammy and Chrissy were in the front row center on Tuesday night, clad in matching University of North Carolina baseball jerseys. They live in Canada but became Tar Heel fans because of Church. Just before he played “Carolina” on Tuesday night, Church looked directly at them and pointed. This was for them (and Tate). They will probably spend the next several years trying to persuade everyone else—Eric Church really did point at them before singing one of his signature songs. Consider this their verification: it happened. 

 

Those types of moments are Red Rocks. Montana teenager Jaxson Myers was in the front row Monday night with his parents and brother, RJ. There are days when Jaxson, a recent high school graduate who loves music and especially Eric Church’s music (credit good raising from his parents, who came back to the show Tuesday night), does not fit in. Many people are kind but some are not. Some people take the time to understand autism but some don’t. The chemistry of his brain means sometimes he’s left just outside of the group.

 

But not here. All 9,525 of the people who pack every one of this week’s Church shows are in this together, and Jaxson is one of them and they are one of Jaxson. This feels like family in a way that isn’t commonplace. Everyone has made the effort to get to this place in the middle of these mountains and it is a communal experience. The steps are steep and the air is thin but we are going to do this together.

 

They came to see what Church (and Tate) might have planned for them. Church doesn’t do a normal show anywhere, but they know he’ll make an extra effort for the Red Rocks shows. Maybe they will see the throwback show or the rain show or, perhaps, the Tate show. 

 

On Tuesday, they saw the first performances of “Evangeline” and “Bleed on Paper” with just the OG Eric Church Band rather than the full Free the Machine tour 24-person production. They saw Church finish “Holdin’ My Own” by blowing a kiss to his family in front of house. They saw “Some Of It” as good as it has ever been. They saw an incredible five-song finish that stretched just barely past (of course it did) the curfew time of 11:30 and included “Hell of a View,” “Springsteen,” “Record Year,” “Holdin’ My Own” and “Lynyrd Skynyrd Jones.” 

 

Any one of those would make for a fantastic night. All five of them in sequence? This must be Red Rocks.

 

After he finished “Evangeline,” Church looked into the crowd and said, “How am I doing, Tate?”

 

The answer was that he was putting together one of those shows that goes into the Church pantheon. It all simply worked. On this night, this combination of these musicians and this crowd that never, ever sat down and these songs…they were all meant to be together like this.

 

Just be prepared: there’s more to come. Church’s Tuesday didn’t just begin with set list advice. It also ended with it. As soon as he returned to his dressing room after Tuesday’s show, his nephew and sons were there to critique the evening’s performance—and most importantly, to name a couple songs they were disappointed not to hear. We’ll withhold the exact song titles to preserve the surprise, but just know this:

 

Tate is already working on the Wednesday set list.