There’s only room for so many country stars, so when the young ones roll in, be it Morgan Wallen or Luke Combs, they tend to push the older ones out.

Eric Church isn’t going anywhere.

The 48-year-old star from North Carolina established his maverick cred early on, and he’s continued to keep the sound fresh, injecting elements of soul, funk, gospel and hard rock.

On Friday night, he was back for his 16th time in Pittsburgh, opening his Free the Machine tour at PPG Paints Arena in front of another packed house.

The tour backs his brief but ambitious eighth album “Evangeline vs. the Machine,” which he titled to mean “creative spirit” vs “the modern world.”

As a welcome, he hit us with 20 minutes of cranked-up Pink Floyd, culminating in “Welcome to the Machine” and “Run Like Hell,” with a

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