ERIC CHURCH’S THE GATHER AGAIN TOURNAMED BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS’ TOP COUNTRY TOURSaturday’s Tour Stop (5/14) Sees Heart & Soul Singer Setting All-Time Attendance Record at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, AZ (opened in 2003) with 16,401
Ahead of closing out the U.S. leg of his 55-show The Gather Again Tour at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on May 20, Eric Church takes home 2022’s Billboard Music Awards’ Top Country Tour award; an award he wears like a badge of honor. Just over a year ago Church graced the magazine’s cover talking about the future of touring: how, when and what it would feel like, with The Wall Street Journal taking note of his leadership pioneering the return of arena-sized live music. “We all held faith that live music would return,” reminds the CMA Entertainer of the Year winner of the two year hiatus spent away from the Church Choir. “Every night when we hit the stage there’s a moment where I think we can’t go any harder; then we see someone in the crowd who reminds us how fortunate this time is together because they’re so in it … and it’s like we’re in overtime. The stakes are higher and the plays are bigger. To take home this award means that we all came through this together because we believed we would, and we did. And music did that. Country music did that.” Church continues to expand the parameters of his live shows with two distinct one-night-only stadium concerts at Milwaukee’s American Family Field on May 28 and Minneapolis’ U.S. Bank Stadium on June 11 on the heels of The Gather Again Tour’s U.S. wrap. “Playing Nissan Stadium as our last show in 2019 without knowing it was our last left an impression on us,” he adds. “When there’s that much raw energy in one place, it creates a different kind of show. It’s not something we want to do night-after-night, but in the right stadium on the right night, we gotta keep it going!” For the latest information and to learn how to join the Church Choir, visit www.EricChurch.com and follow on Facebook and Twitter @ericchurch and Instagram @ericchurchmusic.