Dixie Chicks bring down the house with pop-bluegrass tour de force
by Jonathon Charlton, Saskatoon StarPhoenix
The crowd at SaskTel Centre was the loudest I’ve ever heard Friday night as the Dixie Chicks showed Saskatoon just
how good country music can be.
The women played their radio hits, including Wide Open Spaces, White Trash Wedding and, of course, Goodbye Earl. For those
wondering if the Chicks would get political — who can forget the brouhaha over their criticisms of George W. Bush and
the Iraq invasion — a montage of criminal mugshots during Goodbye Earl included a photo of Donald Trump adorned with
devil horns and a villainous moustache.
A later song had caricatures of the Republican and Democrat presidential nominees wearing clown wigs as red, white and
blue confetti fell from the rafter. Not ones for subtlety, these gals.
But the real highlight of the night was a semi-acoustic set where the Dixie Chicks and their band took a seat and played
a few stripped-down tunes; when the band had been fully plugged in it was hard to hear the banjo and the fiddle over the thundering
bass guitar and drums.
Natalie Maines announced they’d play her favourite song to perform, a cover of Patty Griffin’s Don’t
Let Me Die in Florida. And dear Lord, she was stomping her foot so hard I thought she’s put a hole through the stage.
The setup let her, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison show off their chops and just play, which is hard to do on a radio
single. While their band returned to the stage, the three played a quick bluegrass medley including The White Stripes hit
Seven Nation Army.
Bluegrass may be the most malleable style around — they covered Beyonce, gave a stunning performance of Prince’s
Nothing Compares 2 U and brought out opener Elle King to sing along on their cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide.
A quick word about Elle King — she was fantastic. She howled and groaned about whisky, shotguns and heartbreak over
the sound of a Hammond organ and nailed a smoky, bluesy vibe.
That made it a bit of a shock when she shifted gears to her two pop hits, Ex’s and Oh’s and America’s
Sweetheart, but the crowd loved it, and she told them no audience had sung along with her so much.
The Dixie Chicks closed the show with Not Ready to Make Nice, followed by a cover of Ben Harper’s Better Way, which
they reportedly first performed after the Orlando shooting, and signed off with all three beating the living daylights out
of a white garbage can in time with their drummer.
The band lives outside modern country cliches — they didn’t name check a single truck or beer brand, and they
didn’t cloak themselves in simplistic nostalgia.
Their music is sweet but not saccharine, introspective but not self-indulgent, and they put on a big, shiny pop show that
didn’t overshadow their bluegrass heart and soul.
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