Chula Vista, CA 2016

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Dixie Chicks take victory lap at Sleep Train concert

The Texas trio performed with verve at first San Diego concert since 2003

By George Varga, The San Diego Union Tribune

Anyone looking for controversy at Friday night’s polished, expertly performed concert by the Dixie Chicks at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista probably would have left disappointed. Unless, perhaps, they happened to be visiting from a certain city in Northern California.

"San Diego, you guys have been awesome! I said that last night in Sacramento, but I was lying — tonight, I’m telling the truth!" lead singer Natalie Maines told the cheering Sleep Train audience, shortly before the conclusion of the two-hour concert.

It was a memorable moment of levity at a concert that qualified as a welcome-back victory lap by the Texas-bred trio, now embarked on its first national tour in a decade.

The group’s most recent area performance was 13 years ago at SDSU’s Cox (now Viejas) Arena. Friday’s show came 17 years after the Dixie Chicks’ 1999 breakthrough performance here during the Lilith Fair festival tour stop at what is now Sleep Train Amphitheatre.

Like no other female act, the Dixie Chicks — Maines, violinist/singer Martie Maguire and banjo player, dobro player and singer Emily Strayer — ruled country music in the late 1990s and early 2000s. They became national pariahs in 2003, after expressing sentiments against the U.S.-led war in Iraq that few might disagree with today. While their SDSU show that same year was rife with political commentary, on Friday the trio largely let their music speak for them —along with some choice visual images and a few carefully selected songs that were played before they took the stage.

No, not the recordings of MC Hammer’s "You Can’t Touch This" and Michael Jackson’s "Billie Jean," both of which were heard over the massive sound system. Rather, it was the two songs that followed.

The first was 1999’s "Profit in Peace" by the English band Ocean Colour Scene (with its sobering refrain: Hey, we don’t wanna fight no more / But there's no profit in peace / So we gotta fight some more).The second was "Ohio," the classic 1970 Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young protest anthem, which was inspired by the fatal National Guard shootings of four Kent State University students at a campus anti-war demonstration.

Then, the lights in the sprawling amphitheater dimmed and Prince’s "Let’s Go Crazy" boomed out, offering a celebratory invitation that inspired many in the enthusiastic audience to rise to their feet and dance in the nearly 20,000-capacity venue, which seemed about two-thirds full.

The juxtaposition of Prince’s vital exultation with the two still-timely protest songs was no accident. It enabled the Dixie Chicks, before they even sang or played a note, to signal that their concert would provide an evening of sleek, well-calibrated entertainment, along with some moments of reflection.

Their subsequent performance mixed such rousing, uptempo songs as "Lubock or Leave It" and "Sin Wagon" with such tender ballads as "Easy Silence" and "Top of the World," one of three numbers Friday written by Texas troubadour Patty Griffin. Equally pleasing was a charged bluegrass segment that included "White Trash Wedding" and a version of "Lil’ Jack Slade" that deftly mixed in snippets of White Stripes’ "Seven Nation Army" and Beyoncé’s "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."

The only new song performed, coincidentally, was Beyoncé’s "Daddy Issues," which reached its full country-music potential in the gifted hands and voices of Maines, Maguire and Strayer. Here, and throughout the concert, their full-bodied harmonies and crisp playing were an unqualified delight. The spare staging seemed specifically designed to place the emphasis where it belonged, on the music.

Fleetwood Mac’s "Landslide," long a highlight of the trio’s live shows, was especially moving Friday. Their version of Prince’s "Nothing Compares 2 U," while equally earnest, seemed less well-suited to Maines’ otherwise commanding voice. Her singing was electronically sweetened several times during the concert, which made her periodic missed notes sound all the more real and endearing.

The Dixie Chicks’ five-man band, which includes Oceanside guitarist Justin Weaver, performed with flair and precision, even when the overly amplified sound mix became muddled. Maines joked that drummer Jimmy Paxson needed three hours before each show — "Thirty minutes more than us!" — to prepare his hair. Whether accurate or not, his overly-coiffed mane suggested a humorously exaggerated version of drummer Alex Van Halen in the 1984 video for Van Halen’s "Hot for Teacher."

The momentum lagged only once. After a superb rendition of "Goodbye Earl," which is likely the most musically upbeat song ever written about the murder of an abusive husband, all eight musicians left the stage for a set change. In the interim, a much too-long video was shown of of the Dixie Chicks drag-racing, set to a bluegrass instrumental version of the Motörhead speed-metal anthem "Ace of Spades."

This may have been an amusing idea, at least on paper. But it sapped the flow of a concert that had just reached a visceral peak with "Goodbye Earl," which featured a video that mixed vintage black-and-white movie clips with still photos of Chris Brown, Charlie Sheen, Robert Durst and presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The fact that a devil’s horns, mustache and goatee had been added to Trump’s visage drew a big cheer from the predominantly female audience.

Prior to the show’s concluding encore — a suitably uplifting version of Ben Harper’s "Better Way" — Maines espoused the power of positive energy in an increasingly troubled world. That she did so immediately after the Dixie Chicks had performed a potent version of their Grammy-winning 2006 song of anger and defiance, "Not Ready to Make Nice," helped end the concert with a memorable, one-two musical punch.

The audience happily sang along to many of the selections Friday. There appeared to be a good mix of longtime fans and younger devotees, who may have grown up with the Dixie Chicks’ music but were too young to catch the band’s previous tour a decade ago. Now, with this tour under their collective belts, how about an album of new music?

Dixie Chicks fire it up in Chula Vista before heading to Irvine

By Kelli Fadrosk, Orange County Register

It’s been a few years since country music trio Dixie Chicks has toured in the U.S. and what better time for these unapologetically outspoken artists to bust out their DCX MMXVI tour than during an election year. The Chicks had a lot of energy Friday night at their gig at Sleep Train Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, ahead of Wednesday’s stop at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre and the tour wrap-up dates: Oct. 8 at the Forum in Inglewood and Oct. 10 at the Hollywood Bowl.

Band leader Natalie Maines and sisters Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robinson absolutely tore it up on stage – and looked pretty stylish while doing so – with the help of a stellar backing band as they got right to it with "The Long Way Around." It was a fitting start since the Dixie Chicks haven’t really stayed the straight and narrow path during their career.

The trio transitioned seamlessly into a version of "Lubbock or Leave It" that had some serious bite as they rocked out the twangy, boot-stomper and played along in front of some mighty production with blaring, and at times blinding, yet stunningly vibrant LED screens. No new material was debuted, but they did pepper in a slew of interesting and fun covers.

Dixie Chicks love themselves some Patty Griffin, since they incorporated three of the singer-songwriter’s tracks into the set including "The Truth #2," "Top of the World" – which sounded gigantic live, like it was part of a movie score – and "Don’t Let Me Die in Florida." Maines prefaced that song by sarcastically announcing "This will be our third and final Patty selection of the evening."

A cover of Bruce Robinson’s "Travelin’ Soldier" was beautiful and a countrified version of Beyoncé’s "Daddy Lessons," that included several hearty "yee-haws!," was a surprise. They also did Bob Dylan’s "Mississippi," Fleetwood Mac’s "Landslide" and delivered a haunting cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" as a tribute to the late great music icon, Prince. Even the evening closer was a cover, the upbeat Ben Harper song, "Better Way." After coming out for the encore with the aggressive cut, "Not Ready to Make Nice," Maines said that they just couldn’t end on that note and have everyone drive home angrily, which is why they added the more uplifting tune to the finale.

Even though the last album, "Taking the Long Way," is now a decade old, it’s still so politically and socially relevant today especially with songs like "Not Ready to Make Nice" and "Easy Silence," where Maines seemed to put extra emphasis live on lines like "Children lose their youth too soon / Watching war made us immune."

During "Ready to Run," all of the stage lighting turned red, white and blue and on the jumbo screen behind them scrolled some pretty funny images of the variety of Republican and Democratic candidates that ran for the presidency this year. As the song ended, hundreds of pounds of red, white and blue confetti burst into the air and onto screaming fans in the various tiers of the packed outdoor venue.

While other hits such as "Cowboy Take Me Away" and "Wide Open Spaces" received a huge response from this audience, it was the tongue-in-cheek, husband-killing track "Goodbye Earl" that they played mid-set that really got the crowd jumping. Though there were no real heavy political moments within the set, Maines certainly didn’t just "shut up and sing." The comments she made at a show back in 2003 about being ashamed that then-President Bush was from Dixie Chicks’ home state of Texas may have led to some periods of inactivity, but they’re still here, they’re still singing and it doesn’t seem like they’re ready to make nice just yet.

Set list

The Long Way Around / Lubbock or Leave It/ The Truth #2 (Patty Griffin cover) / Easy Silence / Favorite Year/ Some Days You Gotta Dance / Long Time Gone / Nothing Compares 2 U (Prince cover) / Top of the World (Patty Griffin cover) / Goodbye Earl / Travelin' Soldier (Bruce Robinson)/ Don't Let Me Die in Florida (Patty Griffin) / Daddy Lessons (Beyoncé cover) / White Trash Wedding / Bluegrass Instrumental medley / Ready to Run / Mississippi (Bob Dylan cover) / Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover) / Silent House/ Cowboy Take Me Away / Wide Open Spaces / Sin Wagon. Encore: Not Ready to Make Nice /Better Way (Ben Harper cover).

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