Eric Church is 'Hopeful And Quite Confident' Concerts Will Return In 2021

After a year of tour cancelations due to the coronavirus pandemic, Eric Church is ready for the day that it's safe for live shows to return.

In a recent interview with his record label, the country star shared his thoughts on potentially touring again in 2021 during the second half of the year.

"I think, for me, the thing I’m looking forward to most next year is getting around the corner from this virus and getting some kind of normalcy," he said. "I’m confident that next year is when we’ll finally put this in the rearview at some point in time. We’re all looking for a vaccine early in the year and the more we can take the cases down between January and May, I think the higher likelihood that we’ll be on a stage somewhere in the fall, late summer/fall, and then certainly into the fourth quarter. So, I’m looking forward to that."

While Church seems confident live shows will return this year, he does note that "there may be some early stuff where we can't be at capacity." The "Doing Life With Me" singer adds that he's "looking forward to being at capacity" and seeing fans "grouped up and arms around each other's shoulders" again.

"I miss playing," he continued. "I miss the camaraderie. I miss going town to town and doing that. It’s just what I was born to do, and I miss seeing the fans. Next year, we’re all hopeful, I’m hopeful and quite confident, actually, that next year will be the year that we get to start doing that and then hopefully more and more as we go. That’s what I’m looking forward to."

Although 2020 was a difficult year, Church did what he could to keep fans entertained. Most recently, he released a new song from his upcoming album titled "Doing Life With Me." The track is one of 28 songs Church wrote and recorded earlier this year during a writing retreat in North Carolina for his yet-to-be-titled seventh studio album.

"We secluded ourselves in the mountains of North Carolina, and I would get up in the morning and write a song, and we would record the song that night," Church previously said of a writing retreat. "And the thinking was, we would remove all the barriers of what people think, or a publisher thinks, or a label thinks. It was really letting creativity be creativity."

Church has also previously released several other songs written during the retreat including his current single, "Hell Of A View,""Stick That In Your Country Song,""Through My Ray-Bans,""Bad Mother Trucker," and "Crazyland." In addition to the official releases, Church has also shared previews with fans of unreleased tracks including "Never Break Heart" and "Jenny."

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