On his first night of two at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado (Aug. 9), Eric Church performed a cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

"I'm gonna try something here. This could go bad," Church told the crowd, admitting that he hadn't practiced the iconic song, and that it was "something I put on my crew about an hour ago." He pulled it off quite successfully, however, drawing loud cheers of approval from the audience as he sang the track, just him and his guitar onstage; readers can press play on the video above to watch.

For Church, "Hallelujah" has a special connection to Red Rocks: "Last time I was here -- this is a true story -- I played here, and we were leaving, and I was playing some music in my headphones," Church recalled, "and I was leaving here, and we pulled out, and the light was still on the rocks, like it is right now, and this song was playing in my headphones."

Cohen released his version of "Hallelujah" on his 1984 album, Various Positions, but the most well-known version of the song came from Jeff Buckley, on his Grace album in 1994. Buckley's cover has been certified platinum in the United States. John Cale and Rufus Wainwright, among many others, have also covered the tune.

Just before taking the stage at Red Rocks, Church announced, live on Facebook, his plans for a tour in 2017. The Holdin’ My Own Tour will begin in mid-January and run through the end of May, with 50-plus dates currently scheduled. Church will not bring an opening act on tour with him, instead playing two sets with an intermission in between, and has put new protocols in place to further his mission to combat scalping.

“The way this album came together mandated we release it as a surprise, straight to our fans, as it was important for me to deliver the music the same way the creativity hit me — directly and swiftly. What I didn’t anticipate is that it left me scratching my head a little, as this year was supposed to be spent writing.” Church says. “What this year’s open schedule did afford us was time to think through the way the fans experience our music live, and it was important to us that we find a way to stick to these same principles when it came to approaching our shows, down to the way they go on sale.”

Church concluded his two-night stand at Red Rocks on Wednesday (Aug. 10).

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