The Chicks gave ACL Fest a family reunion. Austinites felt magic in their blood.
In their debut performance for Austin's big fall festival, the country queens brought out new material like "Gaslighter"
and classic hits like "Wide Open Spaces."
By
Peter Blackstock, Austin American-Statesman
When
they dropped "Dixie" from the front end of their name a couple of years ago, perhaps The Chicks might have considered an addition
on the back end. At their first-ever Austin City Limits Music Festival appearance on Friday night in Zilker Park, it
often felt like we were watching The Chicks Family Band.
They've
always been that way to a certain extent, given that co-founders Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire are sisters (both née Erwin).
But in the 14 years between their Grammy-winning 2006 album "Taking the Long Way" and 2020's roaring comeback "Gaslighter,"
the sisters and singer Natalie Maines raised children that are mostly grown up now. Two of them joined The Chicks onstage
at ACL Fest: Maines' 21-year-old son Slade Pasdar played guitars, keyboards and more, while Maguire's 18-year-old daughter
Eva Maguire teamed up with her mother to give the Chicks a mini-string section of fiddles on several songs.
The
icing on the cake was Lloyd Maines, Natalie's father and a legendary musician/producer in his own right. Lloyd, who lives
in Austin, often joins the band for their shows in Texas; he was there in 2016 when they played the amphitheater at Circuit
of the Americas. He beamed with pride when Natalie announced halfway through the band's two-hour set that "this is only the
second show with three generations of Maines. I'm not sure the stage can handle it!"
As
if to lighten the moment, Lloyd got out his mobile phone and captured the throng of fans who'd flocked to the festival's largest
stage to hear one of Texas' biggest bands ever. "Dad, stop embarrassing me!" Natalie playfully chided — only to then
embarrass her own offspring when she made up a story about Slade being born in the recording studio.
No,
Natalie Maines didn't give birth on a control board. But there was a touch of truth to her memory of becoming a mother. "I
just remember thinking, oh my gosh, I'm getting older too," she said, indicating why the band decided to record Fleetwood
Mac's classic "Landslide" just after Slade was born.
"Landslide"
was one of five songs from 2002's "Home" in The Chicks' 21-song set Friday, including two written by Austin residents. The
band has recorded three songs by Patty Griffin, who has opened The Chicks' tours all summer long but isn't appearing at ACL
Fest; on this night, they played "Truth #2," one of five songs in a mid-set seated stretch. (Let's face it, we're all getting
older too; The Chicks range in age from 47 to 52.) Earlier in the set, they played "Travelin' Soldier," a chart-topping smash
written by Bruce Robison, whose brother Charlie used to be married to Strayer. There's that family thing again.
Though
the Chicks mined their back catalog for plenty of hits — they played three songs each from 2006's "Taking the Long Way"
and 1999's "Fly," plus the title track of their 1998 breakthrough "Wide Open Spaces" — this tour was mostly about the
new songs from "Gaslighter." They played nine of its 12 tracks, and the new material translated well to a live setting.
Video
screens displayed images to accompany the songs that sometimes extended the personal to the political. Maines wrote several
of the new album's songs about her acrimonious divorce from actor Adrian Pasdar, including "Tights on My Boat." When they
played the song on Friday, cartoonish images poking fun at Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz flashed behind them.
A
heavier moment came near the end of the set on the darkly anthemic "March March." Onscreen, a roll call of towns that had
experienced mass shootings in recent years scrolled past, along with numbers of citizens killed. The screen slides also expressed
support for the Black Lives Matter movement, and one key word frequently appeared: "Vote."
Musically,
a more tender moment came a couple of songs later, when Strayer traded her banjo and mandolin for a seat at the piano to play
"Everybody Loves You," a Charlotte Lawrence song that's the only non-original tune on the new album. In a recent interview
with the American-Statesman, Strayer said that playing the song onstage has been "one of my favorite moments" of this current
tour, and you could see why; it was the evening's most beautiful performance, with the full band stepping away and putting
all the focus on the three Chicks.
And
about that band: The eight-piece crew provided vital support all night. Along with the three family members, bandleader and
multi-instrumentalist Keith Sewell headed up a cast that also included guitarist/mandolinist Owen Barry, keyboardist Darrell
Smith, bassist Sam Sims and drummer Jimmy Paxson.
Set
list for The Chicks at ACL Fest Weekend 1
1.
"Sin Wagon"
2.
"Gaslighter"
3.
"Texas Man"
4.
"Julianna Calm Down"
5.
"The Long Way Around"
6.
"My Best Friend’s Weddings"
7.
"Sleep at Night"
8.
"Traveling Soldier"
9.
"Wide Open Spaces"
10.
"Tights on My Boat"
11.
"Lubbock or Leave It??"
12.
"Cowboy Take Me Away"
13.
"Long Time Gone" (with excerpt of Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons”)
14.
"Landslide"
15.
"Truth #2"
16.
"March March"
17.
"For Her"
18.
"White Trash Wedding"
19.
"Everybody Loves You"
20.
"Not Ready to Make Nice"
