Eric Church Goes Solo After Band and Crew Get Stomach Flu

Without a drummer, lighting tech or set builder to speak of, most artists would probably cancel a show. But Eric Church didn't let this stop him on a recent date during the Outsiders Tour.

When Church’s band and crew were all stricken by a bout of the stomach flu before the Salt Lake City show on Saturday (Jan. 31), the country hitmaker not only rescheduled a full-band show for Memorial Day weekend, but followed the old mantra ‘the show must go on,’ taking the stage by himself with a scaled down setup.

“If you’ve seen our show so far on this tour, you’re probably wondering what the hell is going on right now. Well, so am I,” Church announced to the crowd. “Here’s the deal: Yesterday we had the stomach flu strike our band, our crew, everyone. We had no one to hang video, lights, nothing. But I’m still here. I’m still standing. We’ve talked about how every show on the Outsiders Tour is different. Well, tonight will be the most different one. There’s nobody left. It’s just me. I’m going to give you everything I got."

Following an opening set by Halestorm, Church played a full acoustic show consisting of 19 songs that included hits like ‘Give Me Back My Hometown,’ ‘Drink in My Hand’ and his most recent No. 1, 'Talladega.’ The country rocker was even able to bring out the band’s guitar players -- some of the few remaining healthy band members -- for a few songs, as well as Halestorm's Lzzy Hale for a unique performance of ‘That’s Damn Rock n’ Roll.’

Church will be bringing the charisma and talent he exhibited in the unconventional Salt Lake show to a performance of a yet-to-be-disclosed song on the Grammy Awards broadcast on Feb. 8. He is nominated four Grammys this year, including Best Country Song and Best Country Album.

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