Eric Church makes case for being Nashville's 'Boss'

For Eric Church, "Springsteen" is more than the title of a chart-topping single he released in 2011.

The influence of rock star Bruce Springsteen is easily grasped in country star Church, who could do a lot worse than borrow pages from the Boss’s playbook.

Church is known as “Chief,” and he punctuates several songs with wordless vocals reminiscent of the “whoa-oh-oh-oh” in “Born to Run” or the yodeled “woos” in “I’m on Fire.”

On the “Holdin’ My Own” tour Church brought to Bankers Life Fieldhouse Thursday, the North Carolina native is stretching out to play 3-hour shows — marathon performances similar to Springsteen’s format early in his career and what he’s returned to recently.

Essentially, Church is steamrolling his peers. Any Nashville A-lister who clocks in at 90 minutes onstage this summer will be viewed as a slacker. Church performed 37 songs in Indianapolis, with a swamp-funk rendition of the Band’s “Ophelia” arriving as the night’s only cover.

Church and his band played on an unadorned, oversized stage with its middle carved out for dozens of fans to experience the concert from the center of the action. To amp up intimacy between artist and audience, Church’s crew turned on the house lights for lengthy segments in the tradition of U2 and, naturally, Springsteen.

At its most Springsteen-esque, the show featured a young girl lifted onstage to have a boot autographed by Church at the end of the song “These Boots.” This “Dancing in the Dark” moment segued directly into “Springsteen” and its parallels of melodies and memories.

More than anything, Church and his rock ’n’ roll mentor are evangelists for music.

Music’s pure power served as one of three themes during the show’s first set. Opening song “Mistress Named Music” included a guest appearance by the Center Grove High School choir.

Church devoted the middle portion of the first set to “where I’m from” tunes, including “Carolina” and “Round Here Buzz.”

The final songs before intermission told stories of finding one’s way (which Springsteen has cited as an important component of his 2016 memoir “Born to Run”).

“Mr. Misunderstood,” title track of Church’s latest album, salutes awkward adolescents who grow up to be the coolest adults. Singing from experience, Church made the song that revs and then revs again work better in a live setting than it does as a studio recording. Given a chance to breathe, “Mr. Misunderstood” delivered waves of dramatic payoff.

After intermission, the show was less about concepts and cohesiveness and more about Church’s quest to bring the capacity crowd to peak energy.

Leading his supporting cast were dual guitar slingers Jeff Cease (a honky-tonk specialist) and Driver Williams (who could have jammed with Def Leppard in the '80s). Multi-instrumentalist Jeff Hyde added welcome bluegrass accents with rapid-fire picking on banjo and acoustic guitar. And backing vocalist Joanna Cotten impressively sailed multiple assignments into the stratosphere.

Church and the audience shared a laugh when he mistakenly recalled Indianapolis country bar 8 Seconds Saloon as "5 Seconds Saloon." But leading into teen-pregnancy song "Two Pink Lines," his punch line of "I was always early" may have tipped off his "5 Seconds" remark as being planned all along. Either way, the "Pink Lines" quote of "One means nothing and we're home free; two means three and a diamond ring" echoed Springsteen's memorable lyrics from "The River": "For my 19th birthday I got a union card and a wedding coat."

Turning back the clock farther than an 8 Seconds gig, Church mentioned a show at Bloomington's Bluebird where his band outnumbered not only the audience but the venue's staff.

He's making the most of being in the spotlight now. "Holdin' My Own," the "Mr. Misunderstood" track that gives this tour its title, shares a melancholy texture with Springsteen's "Brilliant Disguise." Unlike "Disguise's" plot of romantic misgivings and jealousy, "Holdin' " radiates domestic bliss from a husband and father.

Eric Church fans, are you ready for the endurance test?

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Call Star reporter David Lindquist at (317) 444-6404. Follow him on Twitter: @317Lindquist.