When it comes to the Dixie Chicks, you just wait for it because you know it’s coming.

Oh yeah, you knew they couldn’t hold back on the politics or the great music as they wrapped up their DCX MMXVII World Tour at London’s Budweiser Gardens a year to the day after it began.

They rocked the full house from start to finish, the 9,000 fans cheering, screaming and singing along with most of the songs, opening with The Long Way Around and closing with two encores, Not Ready To Make Nice and Ben Harper’s Better Way.

And they certainly weren’t ready to make nice with U.S. President Donald Trump, who in recent days has been poking North Korea, sparking fears of war.

"How do you guys feel about our president?" asked guitarist and lead singer Natalie Maines, drawing a chorus of boos.

"Yes, it’s scary, so we put this song in our set because we felt inspired."

They then laid into Thunderclap Newman’s 1969 protest song, Something In The Air.

The Dixie Chicks are Maines, Martie Maguire (violin, viola, acoustic guitar, double bass, mandolin, fiddle and backing vocals) and Emily Robison (banjo, dobro, guitar, lap steel, bass, mandolin, accordion and sitar).

The crowd was too loud to catch the names of the other band members, but Maines introduced both backing guitarists as London natives.

They clearly enjoyed their visit to Canada.

"It’s been a fantastic tour," said Maines. "We’ve had some fans follow us to far too many shows. But no matter how many people in America have hated us, we’ve always felt in a safe place in Canada."

Maines was referring to the controversy that erupted when she criticized former President George W. Bush’s plans to invade Iraq during a 2003 show.

The multi-Grammy-winning Texas trio seemed to give it all at this show, clearly delighted with the enthusiastic audience.

It was a playful show at times, the video screen behind them almost non-stop with animations and videos, but no distracting light show. They don’t need gimmicks. They sing and play their instruments skilfully.

When they launched into Some Days You Gotta Dance, a couple of shirtless cowboys walked on stage and danced around the Chicks.

Of course, Goodbye Earl was a hit with the mostly female crowd, as it tells the story of an abusive husband and very angry wife, backed up by a girlfriend who helps her "take care" of Earl.

They were here in 2006 and 2013. They haven’t recorded new material since 2006’s smash hit album, Take The Long Way Home, so the setlist was much the same.

That certainly wasn’t a problem for anyone at the show because the Dixie Chicks are just so interesting, such wonderful performers, it’s great just to see them again.

It’s a measure of their talent how they can take a cover song and make it their own. Patty Griffin’s Truth #2, Top of the World, and Don’t Let Me Die In Florida, Beyoncé’s Daddy Lessons (they sang it with the R&B star at the Country Music Awards last October), Bob Dylan’s Mississippi and their gutsy Ben Harper closer were beautifully adapted to their country style.

If you didn’t know better, or they didn’t tell you, you’d never know the songs weren’t theirs.

Of course, for some, nothing compares to their take on Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide, written and originally performed by Stevie Nicks. The Chicks’ rendition is the one many younger members of the audience know, but Nick’s original is more melancholy, more soulful, more beautiful.

For the encore, their entire crew, including some of their children, came on stage, along with Smooth Hound Smith duo, Zack Smith (guitars, vocals, foot drums, harmonica and banjo) and Caitlin Doyle (vocals and percussion), who gave a fabulous opening set.

Among the songs they played was Forever Cold, an intoxicating, urgent number with Smith pickin’ his guitar and blowin’ on the harmonica. It was brilliant. Then Doyle got into My Heart’s Not Broken Yet, a slow, bluesy tune with echoes of Janis Joplin.

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