By Adam Lucas

RED ROCKS—If you only want seven words that best encapsulate what happened on Wednesday night at Red Rocks, they would of course come from the person who wrote so many of the words that helped make the entire evening memorable.

Approximately 90 minutes into his third straight night at the iconic venue, Eric Church looked out at a soaked sellout crowd and the heavy falling rain. He considered the fact that the best artists in the world have played on this stage, but that right now he and Joanna Cotten were standing out there alone, trying desperately to give ten thousand people an indelible concert experience.

And Church said this:

“It’s like a rainy bonfire out here.”

Which was perfect. Because he was the guy with the guitar at the bonfire, playing anything and everything in his repertoire. He even covered “Sweet Caroline,” a song he’d promised himself he would never cover at Red Rocks. 

And the rainy part? Well, “rainy” might not even do it justice. The rain first started around 9 p.m., just before Church was slated to go on stage. It was soon joined by some thunder and lightning, which pushed the start of his set back to 10:06 Denver time, opening with the instantly recognizable first few chords of “Hallelujah” and immediately letting the crowd know they were in for one of those nights they wouldn’t forget.

Two songs later, he debuted “New Old Me,” a song he had just written Wednesday afternoon. That’s right—wrote it and performed it in the same day.

The rain came and went over the next 45 minutes, but then it unloaded around 11 p.m. It happened to coincide with Church breaking into a 12-song medley in the middle of “Record Year.” By the time he got to the sixth song of the medley, “Tiny Dancer,” it was pouring.

You could almost watch the crowd go through stages over the next few minutes:

I hope it’s not going to rain.

It’s raining harder.

This kind of sucks.

It’s not stopping.

Let’s do this!

In “Through My Ray-Bans,” there’s a line that says, “Tonight we don’t give a damn.” By the time Church and Cotten finished “Like Jesus Does,” it was a borderline monsoon, and this crowd decided they absolutely, positively did not give a damn.

That’s when the crowd and artist seemed to align. They were officially in this thing together, and the crowd was going to keep cheering as long as Church kept playing. 

One of the highest forms of praise in the music world is “rock and roll.” As in, “That’s so rock and roll” being one of the biggest compliments you can give someone.

One of the most rock and roll things I have ever seen is Church and Cotten on stage playing through the weather and essentially making up a set list on the fly while the Church road crew basically held the equipment together with Scotch tape and a couple of zip ties. You may not know the names of individuals like stage manager Sambo Coats and audio engineer Ben Rigby and lighting director Gavin Lake and guitar tech MJ Sagraves. But it was their work—and the dozens of other crew members next to them—who held together Wednesday’s show behind the scenes so everything could appear flawless even as roadies were frantically trying to keep the deteriorating conditions from impacting delicate equipment. That was truly rock and roll.

And it enabled Church to give a performance that instantly goes into his career pantheon. You will never be able to make a list of best Eric Church shows without the Red Rocks rain show in 2025. Likewise, you may not be able to make a list of most memorable Red Rocks shows from any artist without including the Eric Church rain show of 2025.

You can never, ever question the Church fan credentials of anyone who attended this show. These 9,500 people have eternal bragging rights. You don’t need to see their Church Choir membership card or their brick at Chief’s. If they say they were at the Red Rocks rain show, they’re for real.

There was a moment where the crowd had the chance to give up. No one did. Late in the show, long past midnight and nearly 30 minutes after Church had finished the night’s planned set list and was completely improvising, every single seat was filled as the house lights turned on to illuminate the crowd singing along to “Talladega.”

At 12:25 a.m. on a Wednesday, in miserable conditions, there wasn’t a visible empty seat anywhere. 

Two-thirds of the way up, two of those seats were occupied by Todd and Toni Williams, watching their 16^th Church show. They’d made the trip from Illinois and the night was intended to be the first time for their children, 17-year-old Logan and 14-year-old Brooke, to see Church in person. The kids deserved it. Toni has been a fan since 2007, which is a lot of years of possibly off-key family singalongs to “Springsteen.”

“We’re all bad singers,” Todd said with a grin.

“But my dad is probably the worst,” Brooke helpfully added.

After a recent 12-day backpacking trip with his dad at Philmont Boy Scout Ranch in the mountains of New Mexico, Logan developed a love of hiking. He especially liked the mountain sunrises and sunsets, so it was only natural that he persuaded his best friend, Carter Westbrook, to join him for an early-morning drive to a nearby park in the early hours of July 6. Carter and Logan drove separately, and made it to within a mile of the park entrance before Logan dozed off, drove off the road, and slammed into a tree.

The impact killed him almost instantly, although he hung on long enough for his organs to be donated, saving five other lives.

That was July 8. Todd and Toni were scheduled to fly to Denver less than a week later. There were some moments when they didn’t know if they could make the trip. Ultimately, though, they needed to be there. They brought Brooke, Carter, and Logan’s girlfriend, Haley Miller. 

All five went on a sunrise hike Wednesday morning in Logan’s honor. Then they gathered on row 53 in their black t-shirts with Logan’s picture on the front.

It was a tangible reminder that these shows matter. Mostly, they are fun. They are friends and arms around shoulders and sharing a few drinks and reliving the best moments in the car on the way home.

But sometimes they are more than that. Sometimes the songs are a memory when that’s all you have.

As they waited for Wednesday’s show to begin, Todd said he knew they’d hear “Springsteen,” the family’s favorite. But he also hoped to hear “Mr. Misunderstood,” because that was Logan’s favorite song. “He saw himself in that song,” Todd said. The family plans to start a scholarship in Logan’s memory, and the scholarship will be named “The Mr. Misunderstood Scholarship.”

It would have been perfect if that song was played on Wednesday night. But when Church finished tinkering with the set list less than an hour before the show, it didn’t make the cut.

But then the rains came and the set list was obliterated. “Mr. Misunderstood” was one of seven songs Church tacked on after the scheduled end of the set list. As Sagraves switched out a guitar for Church during those seven songs, he grinned and told the singer, “You’re never going to get to come here again.”

“Well, then this is it, baby!” Church replied.

He proceeded to give every single person in attendance a night they will never forget. In total, he played 28 songs plus that 12-song medley, putting the total at 40 for the nearly two and a half hours he was on stage (and nearly 100 over the three days).

He took requests (“OK, I’ll do that one next,” he said after midnight when a fan near the front yelled for “Wrecking Ball”). He played until his hands were cramping. And just by picking up a guitar and refusing to quit, he gave one family three hours of respite from the worst days of their lives. Tonight they sang and hugged in the rain. This weekend—only after they experienced Red Rocks together—they will bury their son.

“It was the best performance I have ever seen in the most iconic setting and in some of the worst weather conditions we could have at this time of year,” Todd Williams said. “It was an unforgettable night that we will carry with us for the rest of our lives.”