Chicks Sweet And Strong
The Courier Mail
Girl Power swept into Brisbane
last night when America's controversial Dixie Chicks took the stage before 10, 000 fans at a sold out Entertainment Centre.
Lead
singer Natalie Maines and Texan sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire drew a strongly female audience.
Maines has been crossing swords with white male America this year over
her opposition to the Iraq war.The band received death threats after she told a London audience the Chicks were ashamed that
President George W. Bush was from Texas. But country fans last night showed that Queensland is still firmly in their camp.
The concert showed a band in transition and there were many moments
of quiet beauty. Maines is a pocket dynamo with a mouth to match but she was in a restrained mood with no mention of President
Bush. Instead she let a video do the talking. While they played Truth No. 2, the backing video showed American civil rights
and anti-Vietnam protests and ended with footage of Dixie Chicks' albums being burnt.
This is a band that knows how to make itself heard. On the strength of last night the audience will keep growing.
