The wife and I headed to the Showcase Live in Foxboro, MA home of three time Superbowl Champions the New England Patriots to See Eric Church with guest Josh Thompson. I didn’t know what to expect since I have not been to this venue before and have never seen Josh Thompson or Eric Church perform. We decided that we would get there when the doors opened at 6:00pm so we could eat before the show. The Showcase Live is a spectacular quaint place to see a show. It’s almost impossible to not a have a good view of the stage. The only thing I wish is that they would have played some country music while we were waiting for the show to begin.

Josh Thompson took the stage at around 8:00 pm and the crowd went wild. Josh sang eight songs in total, from his debut single “Beer on the Table” to “Growin up is Gettin Old” written for the title track of Jason Michaels new album. Josh has a sound that rings familiar to older more traditional country performers. Josh was very comfortable on stage and struck a good rapport with the audience. He asked if there were any country girls in the audience. Then he asked if any of them made love while listening to a Merle Haggard tune! This segued into him singing “You Ain’t Seen Country Yet“, which is a great upbeat tempo country song that is sure to top the charts when it’s released. The audience seemed to really enjoy “Way out Here“, which is the title track to his upcoming CD, slated to be released sometime in January.
It was really hard to hear what he was saying when he tried to speak over the excited audience. Please forgive me if I get the last two titles of his songs performed a little jumbled. The crowd was having such a great time! They proved it to Josh by singing all his songs and reacting to what he was saying. Josh performed “Blame it on Willie” which the crowd seemed to like. He finished his set off with “I’ve Always Been Me” and “Beer on the Table“. You can expect to hear a lot more from this young performer, as he definitely has the talent and stage presence to go the distance. I, for one, cannot wait to hear his new album in January.

Eric Church hit the stage at about 9:15- the crowd went wild from minute one! I have to admit, I really did not know much about Eric Church until I did a little research before heading to the show. I do like a couple of his songs that have been playing on the local stations. The crowd was not the usual hat-wearing, boot-kicking crowd I am used to seeing at a country show. They were a much younger crowd, but most definitely a bunch of true Eric Church fans. The fact that this group of younger concert goers seemed to know every single one of Eric’s songs simply amazed me! From the very first song straight on until the end of the show, they never let up! Eric ate it up. You can tell that Eric was totally overwhelmed with the response he was getting from the fans.
Eric opened the show singing one of my personal favorites, “Guys Like Me“. He sang songs from both albums “Sinners Like Me” and his new one, “Carolina“, which was released in March. The people just kept feeding off his energy from songs like “These Boots” and “Ain’t Killed Me Yet“, just as Eric was feeding off the energy of his fans. He actually said, “You keep giving it to me and I’ll keep giving it back to you.” Like the “Energizer Bunny”, he just kept on going belting out “Two Pink Lines“, “Sinners Like Me” and “Pledge Allegiance to the Hag“, which I don’t think this audience knew who “Hag” is. None the less, they knew every word to the song. Eric went from one song to another without taking a break. It was like a montage of hits that went non-stop for an hour and a half. The only way I can describe being at this show: It’s kind of like sitting around the campfire with a bunch of your friends and a guitar and just singing the night away. My only regret of the night is I wish I knew more of the words to his songs, so I could have sung along with everyone else.