Country music singer and songwriter Eric Church performed his second headlining show at North Little Rock's Verizon Arena on Friday night.
The stop on his 2014 Outsiders World Tour, in support of his fourth studio album, was opened by Dwight Yoakam and Brothers Osborne.
This first leg of Church's latest tour, which began Thursday, includes more than 30 arena dates stretching across the South, East Coast and Midwest and into Ontario. He was last here in late 2012, stopping at Verizon Arena on his first headlining tour titled Blood, Sweat and Beers.
The concert kicked off with the Brothers Osborne, siblings John and T.J. hailing from Maryland.
The pair recently debuted their first commercial release, a five-song, self-titled EP on EMI Records Nashville and was listed by Rolling Stone magazine as one of "10 Artists You Need to Know," while Country Weekly listed them as "Ones to Watch in 2014."
In their 30-minute set, they sang six songs, including their single "Rum."
Taking the stage next was Dwight Yoakam. Since rising to fame in the mid-1980s, the 57-year-old from Columbus, Ohio, who's also an actor (including Sling Blade and Panic Room) and director, has recorded more than 21 albums and compilations, charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard country charts and sold more than 25 million records.
During his 50-minute set, he sang 16 songs, including his Grammy-winning hit "Ain't That Lonely Yet" and "A Thousand Miles from Nowhere" from his 1993 album This Time.
Church took the stage shortly after 9 p.m., opening with "The Outsiders," followed by "Creepin'" and "Guys Like Me."
When he performed "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" in tribute to Merle Haggard, the crowd roared in response. He later performed his current single "Cold One."
Near the end of the show, Church took a darker turn with a video of him displayed on the four-sided video screen before he sang "Devil Devil (Prelude: Princess of Darkness)" as an inflatable skull lowered from the arena's roof.
Metro on 09/13/2014