By Adam Lucas

PHILADELPHIA—Philadelphia makes you earn it.

Eric Church has known that ever since his first gig here, which he recalled on Thursday night was “a birthday party for WXTU in front of about 30 six-year-olds.” That was in the very early days of Church’s career, when he showed up armed with all the songs from the Sinners Like Me album, meaning those six-year-olds were probably a little confused by “Two Pink Lines,” “Lightning,” and “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag.”

“Shit,” Church said, “those six-year-olds are probably here tonight drinking.”

Probably so, if they’re anything like the rest of Philadelphia, a city that prizes loyalty. It was startling how many fans in the Church Choir early admission line and in the general crowd had a simple answer when asked how many shows they’d attended: “Every time he comes to Philadelphia,” was the typical response. “Every single time.”

And they came back on Thursday to see the third night of the Free the Machine tour. But they probably had no clue how close they came to not seeing Church at all. The introduction to the show is an elaborate ten-minute light and video experience set to Pink Floyd’s “Welcome to the Machine.” At the conclusion, all the musicians take the stage, and then Church is the last one to enter.

A bit of backstage magic: he arrives at his entrance spot at the center rear of the stage via a hydraulic lift. On Thursday, that lift only raised him about half the distance it needed to go for him to walk straight onto the stage. The music had reached a crescendo, the spotlight was ready…and the star of the night was climbing up the back of the stage. It was so subtle a moment that it’s unlikely anyone in the crowd even noticed (but the band did, with a couple members turning with a very perplexed look to try and figure out where Church might be).

But it was also the kind of moment that typifies why Church almost always has very good shows in front of a Philadelphia crowd: he works for it, and they appreciate it, and the two just fit well together.

“I have a ton of respect for this city and this building,” he said from the stage. “And you’re going to hear that in everything I do tonight.”

That’s why he changed the colors in “all the colors of my youth” to the “silver and green” of the hometown Eagles in “Give Me Back My Hometown.”

That’s why he put “Knives of New Orleans on the setlist. “We don’t do this one a lot,” Church said. “But this is one of my favorite songs. And we’re going to do the hell out of it.”

And that’s also why he brought Joanna Cotten alongside him at the front of the stage for a rousing cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City” near the end of the set. As he said, he was going to show respect for the area and the building.

The crowd loved it, of course. During “Smoke A Little Smoke,” the pit was so energized that they sang back the “oh no, oh no” line without prompting during the “Dig down deep, find my stash” breakdown. That’s not normal, and even Church had to give them a look of admiration.

Chief wandered the stage more than either of the first two shows of the tour, seemingly wanting to soak in every bit of energy from every corner of the arena. He was having so much fun watching Driver Williams and Lee Hendricks on guitar and bass during “The Outsiders” that he almost didn’t make it back to the microphone for his “That’s who we are…” closing line.

But there was no better moment of perfect star and crowd harmonization than during “Smoke.” Longtime Church fans Jan and Dennis had secured a prime spot at the front of the pit for their 15^th show. They’d traveled from Huntersville, N.C., just for this night; they’d never been to Philadelphia and thought an Eric Church concert was the perfect excuse.

Jan came armed with a fairly standard sign: “We are here from NC,” it said above an outline of the state of North Carolina. “How about a shot?”

“Doing a shot with him at a show has been on my bucket list,” she said. So she didn’t want to take any chances. In addition to her sign, she also made a backup.

“Mine wasn’t getting the response I needed,” she said. “So I looked at Dennis and said, ‘You’re up. Get off the bench. Coach is putting you in the game.’”

She handed Dennis the backup sign, which quickly caught Church’s attention. It read, “Please do a shot with my GF,” above the same outline of the state. “So I can get laid.”

Faced with such indisputable logic, Church had no choice. He downed the shot, then looked into the pit. “It’s up to you now, buddy,” he said with a grin.

“This is one of the best nights of my life,” Jan confirmed.

And that’s the kind of night that keeps this area coming back for more nights of Church.

“This,” he told the crowd, “is the Free the Machine tour—Philly style.”