BANGOR, Maine — Many of the T-shirts sported by people attending the concert at the Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion on Thursday night said the same phrases: “Good girls never miss Church.” “I’m a Sinner, Somebody Take Me To Church.” Or another phrase, with words you can’t print in the newspaper. Whatever the message, everyone was there to see Eric Church, one of the biggest names in country music.
Church has appeared on the Bangor Waterfront twice — once opening for Miranda Lambert, and once opening for Toby Keith. This time around, he was the headliner, and Church put on a show that was just as much rock ’n’ roll as it was country.
Starting off the night more than an hour after his opening band finished up its set, Church, a man of little stage banter, started strong with the hit “Cold One” off his most recent album, “The Outsiders,” before segueing right into a variety of songs off his many albums, including “Creepin’” and “Drink In My Hand” off “Chief” and “Guys Like Me” off his 2006 album, “Sinners Like Me.”
But it’s “The Outsiders” that was his crossover hit, finding as many fans among rock audiences as country with its blend of soulful country singing and rock guitar. “Talladega,” one of the big singles off the album, wouldn’t sound out of place on a Bruce Springsteen record — a songwriter he even wrote a song about a couple years ago. Same with “Can’t Talk It With You,” which you could hear on classic rock radio and not blink an eye.
Church, unlike other country stars, eschews pyrotechnics and giant video screens and prefers to let the music speak for itself, opting for a stage setup comprised almost essentially of a few huge spotlights that could be seen bright and clear across the river in Brewer.
Opening for Church was The Lone Bellow, a Brooklyn, New York, duo that blends country and bluegrass with indie rock and rockabilly — yet another choice that sets Church outside the Nashville mainstream.
Up next in the Machias Savings Bank Concert Series at the Darling’s Waterfront Pavilion are rock legends Van Halen with the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band on July 30, followed by bluesman Joe Bonnamassa on Aug. 12. For information, visit waterfrontconcerts.com.
