By Adam Lucas

ST. PAUL—Coming off a 12-week hiatus from the Free the Machine tour, with only a couple of stops at The Anthem to warm up, Saturday’s show in St. Paul was a challenge. It was the third night of a three-night stretch, following immediately after Church had been grounded with an illness that prevented him from attending the Grammys. 

There was also an unexpected hurdle: Church spent the early part of his evening watching his beloved Tar Heels beat Duke on a last-second shot; as anyone with a favorite team knows, the tension and exuberance of a buzzer-beater is not exactly conducive to resting your voice.

These are the types of shows some artists put on cruise control. Get in, play the hits, get out.

But the people of St. Paul had also made the Saturday night show one of the highest-attended concerts of this tour. They spent the money and bought the tickets and came out in the frigid cold to see the show. And that was really all the encouragement Church needed. 

He packed the set list with favorites, sharing a (slightly warm) shot with a fan during “Drink In My Hand.” As he mentioned the previous night in Sioux Falls, these three-show weekends give him time to sit on the bus and think about songs he hasn’t played in a long time. For that reason, St. Paul got “Kill a Word,” the first time that song has made an appearance since March of 2024 and just the third time it has been played total on the last two tours.

“There’s no way we get to stages like this unless there were smaller stages along the way,” Church said. “There are a lot of people here who told a lot of people about us, so I just want to say thank you.”

He thanked them by veering off the planned set list for a two-song pairing with Joanna Cotten, who is the perfect teammate on a night like this. You can’t be tired on a night when she’s belting out lyrics that remind you you’ve been walking “’round town like a scolded hound,” which even prompted a chuckle from Church.  Then they went straight into “Atlantic City,” which has turned into an occasional gem on this tour from the first time it made an appearance in Philadelphia. 

They don’t do it often, and it’s a treat when they do. Around the time Cotten blasts, “I got this job and I put my money away,” the crowd realizes they’re watching something special. “None of this is planned,” Church said. “I’m in the wind now.”

There will always be something special about the hometown shows. Any member of the Choir knows you have to see Church in North Carolina at some point to fully understand the connection he has to his home state and his people.

But there’s something about these Midwest shows. In towns like Green Bay and Indianapolis and now Omaha and Sioux Falls and St. Paul, some of his roots are here, too. And he doesn’t forget.

“I want to say how much this city and this place mean to me,” he said.

The set list said Church was supposed to be almost finished. But he couldn’t stop. “Two more,” he motioned to guitar tech MJ Sagraves. He still wanted to play “These Boots” and the traditional tour closer, “Through My Ray-Bans.” 

“Don’t quit on me, now!” he reminded the crowd.

And just as they’ve done since the very early days when he was jammed into a van with the people who have been with him since the beginning, they didn’t quit. He didn’t do it perfectly—“See, that’s me fucking it up,” he said after coming in too early during “Ray-Bans.”

In some ways, that made it even more fitting. Even in a mistake, he couldn’t help but own it as authentically as possible. Let everyone else on stage be perfect. He was going to be the Chief, which is exactly what everyone in the army of Minnesota soldiers came to see.