With his high-rising career and a penchant for writing and playing songs that ascend to the top of the country charts, it’s no surprise that Eric Church wears aviator sunglasses.
Sometimes called the “Country Music Jesus,” Church has added two Lake Tahoe concerts to his jam-packed 2017 itinerary. The shows at the Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena will be Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 2-3, during Labor Day weekend. An opening act will be announced at a later date.
Tickets are “$75.67 (bleachers), $97.56 and $141.16. Sales start at 10 a.m. Friday, May 19 at Ticketmaster and Another Planet Entertainment websites.
With 12 outdoor shows, the summer concert series lineup is nearly complete. Another concert announcement for a Sept. 1 show is expected Tuesday. There also is a chance one more show could be added in July, Harveys spokesman John Packer told Tahoe Onstage.
A native of North Carolina, Church signed with Capitol Nashville in 2005 and has six albums, five studio and one live. Influenced by Metallica and seasoned as a teenager in rough honky-tonks playing Jimmy Buffett covers in a band called Mountain Boys, Church is considered to be in the rapidly expanding outlaw country genre. And as an advocate for marijuana, he fits the mold.
Church has the songs “Smoke a Little Smoke,” “The Joint” and “I’m Gettin’ Stoned,” which inspired Luke Bryan to call him the Willie Nelson for the new generation.
Throughout his recording career, Church has worked closely with producer Jay Joyce, who also has made records for Little Big Town, Cage the Elephant, the Wallflowers, Zac Brown Band, Carrie Underwood and Emmylou Harris.
Church, who turns 40 on May 3, and his band should be extremely tight when they arrive at Lake Tahoe. The band has been on the road performing since mid-January. It started a 60-city tour (which has been much extended) called “Holdin’ My Own, ” playing two sets with no opening band. However, a group yet to be announced will open the shows at Harveys.
In 2013, Eric and Katherine Church started The Chief Cares Fund, which donates to a litany of charities in Tennessee, North Carolina and across the globe, including support for underprivileged families and no-kill animal shelters.
- Summer Concert Series 2017
Lake Tahoe Outdoor Arena at Harveys
Sunday, June 25: Paul Simon
Friday, June 30: Rebelution, Nahko and Medicine for the People, HIRIE, Collie Buddz
Friday, July 7: Sammy Hagar and the Circle
Sunday, July 9: Train, Natasha Bedingfield, O.A.R
Friday, July 14: Lenny Kravitz, ZZ Ward
Sunday, July 16: Third Eye Blind
Friday and Saturday, July 28-29: Jack Johnson, ALO
Friday, Aug. 4: Slightly Stoopid, Iration, J Boog and The Movement
Wednesday, Aug. 16: “An Evening with The Who”
Friday, Sept. 1: tba
Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 2-3: Eric Church, opener tba - Tickets: apeconcerts.com, ticketmaster.com
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