Eric Church Makes a Bad Call

Canceling a Concert to Watch Hoops

"North Carolina basketball star forward Brady Manek has opted out of tonight's first-ever Final Four semifinal match-up against archrival Duke so he could see country singer Eric Church perform a concert in San Antonio. The 6-9, 230 pound forward, a key player in the Tar Heels March Madness run, said that his family from Harrah, Oklahoma, had scored front-row center tickets for the Church concert, and as longtime devotees and members of the country singer's fan group, known as "the Choir," it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"This is the most selfish thing I’ve ever asked my team to do: to accept my Saturday night plans and diminish our chances of beating Duke and winning a national championship so that I can have this moment with my family and music community. However, it’s that same type of passion felt by the people who fill the seats at our games that makes us want to be part of a crowd at a concert of this significance."

Those two paragraphs attributed to Manek are not true. It is Eric Church who canceled tonight's sold-out show in San Antonio to watch the basketball game between North Carolina and Duke. I changed a few words, in the second paragraph, which was the statement the concert promoter released on Church's behalf on Tuesday, April 30, four days before Saturday night's scheduled show in the 18,500-seat AT&T Center in San Antonio.

I've listened to a little Eric Church: he can rock, at times. He's one of the modern male country music artists that  likes to go big in concert, make it an event. He's known for marathon stage shows, more Springsteen than Strait. Instead of the typical two-hour set, Church has gone full-Bruce, with three hours plus not uncommon. One of Church's best known songs is his 2012 tune, "Springsteen," a nostalgic ode to "glory days."

The only reaction I've seen from another country music star of similar stature to that of Church is Jason Aldean. Put on the spot by the alert reporters of the E! News "Daily Pop" show, Aldean said: "I don't know that I could cancel a show to make it to a game. I feel like people buying a ticket to come see your show, you kind of have to hold up your end of the deal on that."

I agree with Aldean. Yeah, you kind of do have to hold up your end of the deal.

It seems like a no-brainer to me, but speaking of no-brains, social media seemed to be quite divided on this issue, as it is about everything. Is it good to kill puppies? Well, there are going to be folks on Instagram or Twitter who are going to say definitely not. Then there were people who would say, in ordinary circumstances, no. But, there might be certain times...in certain situations...

And then you have people say, of course it's OK to kill puppies. In fact, Hunter Biden needs to be investigated about this. I have heard...I have been told...Infowars has video of Hunter Biden and these puppies, and I would have gone to the screening, but I am on the Senate Judiciary Committee, and I had to be there to campaign for the 2024 endorsement of the White Citizen's Council to make a speech in the form of a question about rumors that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was in favor of depriving pitbulls of their first amendment rights to bite whoever they wanted, especially my next door neighbor.

Then of course, you'd have people posting screenshots of that famous National Lampoon cover: "If you don't buy this magazine, we'll shoot this dog!" Barry Kramer, publisher of Creem, loved that cover. When I was the editor of the magazine in 1975, we were talking about how to put Lester Bangs' feature on Kraftwerk on the cover. The writing was Bangs at his coherent best, in which he anticipated the eventual devaluation of the electric guitar, and its replacement by computers like those used by Kraftwerk.

The electronic group from Germany was lacking in charisma, not terribly photogenic. So Kramer, who was Jewish, suggested a swastika drawn on a surfboard to go on the cover with Bangs story. We argued back and forth for an hour, the editorial staff: me, Jaan Uhelszki, Robert Duncan, Bangs, publisher Kramer, and art director Charles Auringer. Barry kept citing that National Lampoon cover about shooting the dog, and how it elevated newsstand sales. The conversation ended when Auringer, in the role of Righteous Gentile, kept his arms folded, as he had the entire conversation. Charles rarely spoke, but when he did, people listened.

What Charles Auringer said was, "No."

There was not going to be a swastika on the cover of Creem, and that was the end of it.

We live in a different country now, one in which Beavis and Butthead would be regaled (or reviled!) as public intellectuals. I scrolled Twitter beyond the point of nausea to find that for every person who thought it was a bad idea for Church to cancel his concert, there were others who posted, "well, it's a really important game." Or "you don't understand North Carolina basketball."

What wigged me out almost as much as the people who were really furious at the cancelation. They had spent thousands of dollars on airplane tickets, front row VIP seats, hotel accommodations. I mean, that's nice to have that kind of discretionary income, or is it? Do people busting their butts to stay in the middle class engage in these indulgences anyway, because Eric Church means that much to them? Spending many hundreds of dollars for elite concert experiences were a big thing before Covid. I remember a podiatrist tell me how he spent $1000 to sit on the stage at some classic rock band reunion concert. Whatever floats your boat. It's your money.

The most sensible media quote I saw was from a fan in Texas interviewed by an Austin TV station. Bobby Withrow had purchased tickets for the Church concert a year ago. "It's not a very valid reason. If it was a family death and emergency, whatever, that was a valid reason. A basketball game? No."

Back to Twitter. Tweet One: "Eric Church cancels his San Antonio gig for a basketball game and we’re supposed to be cool with it? How about you refund my fucking airfare and condo rental too? Four day vacation you just shit on because you’re selfish. Asshole move. Get a DVR and go Duke."

Tweet Two, reply: "Buying a flight and renting a condo for a concert that they tell you, in bold print 'date subject to change' is hilariously awful SNL levels of decision making."

I don't think I want to know either of those people.

I asked two of my student-athletes what they thought. One, on one of the St. John's basketball teams, said, "In order to create a fan base you have to create loyalty and trust within them, and this is not the way to do it."

The other, a four-year starter in another sport who had told me that he had gone to and enjoyed an Eric Church concert at the beginning of the semester, disapproved of the cancelation with these words:

"It's his job."

Will Eric Church's career suffer any because he didn't feel like doing his job on Saturday night? Doubtful. It'll blow over, the social media cycle will be over. We're a country that is no longer aghast at such depraved expressions of entitlement. As a nation, we worship them. The rich are different, you know, but we can't be too hard on them. Because we're all just a lottery ticket away from urinating on whomever we want.