Would you recognize Eric Church without his signature Ray-Ban sunglasses?
The question was the subject of a bet between The Chief and his road crew during a recent stop on the singer’s current Free the Machine Tour.
“Last night over too much Gypsy, we were talking about whether or not I could take my sunglasses off and go to my own show. I said I could. People around me said I couldn’t,” Church explains in a new video he posted to social media.
So they decided to put the question to a test.
Before his show in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday night (Oct. 10), Church took off the Ray-Bans and did a lap around the concourse.
Do Eric Church’s Fans Recognize Him Without His Sunglasses?
Even though the glasses were off, Church gave fans a fair chance at recognizing him.
He wasn’t hiding as he walked through the hallway. He even drew some attention to himself: He greeted people as he passed, commented “Roll Tide” and even called out, “Chief, Chief!”
From the video, you can see that it’s pretty crowded at the arena where he’s playing, so there are plenty of fans around who saw Church walking around incognito.
He also was wearing his own merch, including a shirt with his face on it.
But in a crowd of fans who showed up to see a Church show, that wasn’t as a big a clue as it might have been if he were out in a more neutral setting.
Read More: Eric Church’s Free the Machine Tour: Dates + Details
Still, Church was mostly right: He made it all the way around the concourse without anybody recognizing him, except for one person.
The singer didn’t show the full interaction, but at one point towards the end of his lap, he smiles at the camera and goes, “Uh-oh. Almost.”
“One person! One,” he says as he concludes his walk.
Still, that’s a pretty low number for a crowd of fans that — presumably — all know Church and his music.
In a more general setting, it’s probably even more likely that the singer can walk around without being recognized when he takes his sunglasses off.
Where is Eric Church’s Free the Machine Tour Heading Next?
The Free the Machine Tour will continue into April 2026.
Next up, he’ll play Salt Lake City, Utah on Oct. 23.
Top 50 Eric Church Songs: His Greatest Hits and Best Deep Cuts
He’s been known to sample R-Rated burners and sage truth-tellers — and then there are two songs about murder. So, Eric Church’s songs fall into rows, but there are a lot of rows in his 15-year-plus catalog.
His best song? Taste of Country asked fans, staff and the industry to weigh in and then looked at chart success, sales data pop culture importance to choose No. 1 from No. 50. Songs with strong lyrical content rank high. Songs with creative production rank high. Songs with both ended up in the Top 5.
Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes
