By Adam Lucas

WASHINGTON, D.C.—At the Eric Church Band Christmas party, the conversations are pretty much what you would expect.

It was early December and the Free the Machine tour was temporarily paused. The tour family that lives together, eats together and rides the bus together had enjoyed a few weeks of break before they gathered to celebrate the holidays. So they talked about family and shopping lists and how they’d filled their time during the hiatus.

But eventually, of course, they had to talk about music. That meant that they talked about the tour hitting the road again in January at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. Church loves the venue—“I love this room and I love this vibe,” he told the crowd from the stage on Thursday—but the smaller size presents a different footprint than the rest of the tour, which takes place in bigger arenas.

That stage setup was what Katherine Church and do-everything Church veteran Michael Todd Stembridge were discussing that night in December. Because Church has also played the similarly-sized Pinnacle in Nashville and Red Rocks, they had a general idea in mind. They also had one very clear set of criteria: “We are not,” Katherine Church said, “going to half-ass it.”

They could have been forgiven if they had. The tour goes back to arenas in two weeks, and they could have just rigged something inferior for The Anthem to hold things together until returning to the familiar tour setup in Omaha. The crowd probably wouldn’t have noticed. Play “Springsteen,” play “Sinners Like Me,” wear the Ray-Bans, and that’s a stellar concert.

But that’s not the Eric Church way. So he played a full 28-song set on Thursday night, going until almost midnight. Stembridge and the rest of the crew packed the full 24-person band onto The Anthem stage. And the D.C. crowd got a full Eric Church show, from the first notes of “Hands of Time” to the final bows after “Through My Ray-Bans.”

“We appreciate you letting us knock the rust off with you tonight,” Church said. But there wasn’t much rust visible—although he did wander across the stage during “Drink In My Hand” and had to hustle back to the microphone for the second verse—and late in the show, he even gave the crowd a little teaser.

“On January 30, we’ve got a surprise coming,” he said. “It’s the shit.”

As the Church Choir exchanged puzzled glances, he just grinned. “This is also the shit,” he said, and he and Joanna Cotten roared through “Like Jesus Does.”

It had been 68 days between tour dates and Church was visibly very pleased to be back with his people. These are the people who line up in the cold Washington weather hours before doors open. These are the people who drape a state of North Carolina flag over a balcony during “Give Me Back My Hometown.” And these are most definitely the people who…miss their finals to come to the concert?

“Let me see that sign again,” Church said from the stage after “Sinners Like Me.” On the second row of the general admission floor, a fan held it a little higher. “I missed finals,” it read, “to see you.”

“I’m a lot older than you, but when I went to school, finals were a big deal,” Church said. “Regardless of how that turns out for you, I’m very glad you’re here. So this is your song.”

Then he began the opening notes of “Hell of a View” before pausing with a big grin. “I missed a few finals for some Eric Church shows, too,” he said.

There’s a lot happening in the Eric Church universe right now. He has an IMAX concert film coming out next month, plus the associated live album. He’s nominated for a Grammy. There’s that surprise he mentioned on Thursday night.

But ultimately, it all comes back to the music, to filling up a room with people and letting them drink and dance and sing along. In many ways, The Anthem feels like a throwback to when Church used to do that in much smaller venues, the kind with sticky beer-soaked floors and the band on stage trying to figure out how to get everyone’s attention.

The lessons he learned there still work under much brighter lights.

“The more real music we can play, the better off we all will be,” Church said. “So tonight we are going to play until we get tired or you get tired. And then we’re going to come back tomorrow and fucking do it again.”

And they will absolutely not half-ass it.