Dixie Chicks Concert Soars　
The band, which has boundless spirit, has touched a chord　
among women.　

By Gene Harbreht, The Orange County Register　

A couple of thoughts came to mind while watching the Dixie Chicks play to a packed house at the Arrowhead Pond on Saturday evening.

One, there hasn't been this much sheer excitement and adulation surrounding a girl band since, well, maybe forever. At least since the Supremes. Secondly, this gig is rapidly crossing the line from being a successful music act to being a phenomenon. That's partly because the Chicks - often exploring gender-specific themes that speak to the empowerment of women - have touched a chord among females that extends from little girls to mothers and grandmothers,　all of whom were represented Saturday.

However, during a 21-song, 1 hour, 40-minute set that soared much more than it sputtered, the Texas trio demonstrated that their burgeoning success is built predominantly on substantial musical talent and boundless spirit.

The audience certainly loved it, standing and singing along loudy through most of the performance.

While backed by a five-piece combo, the instrumental backbone of the group are sisters Emily Robison (banjo, slide guitar, guitar) and Martie Seidel (fiddle). Their flair was on display from the first note, Seidel's Irish jig that launched "Ready to Run," backed by Robison's stellar guitar work.

Another upbeat tune followed, "There's Your Trouble," before the girls got down to some hard-core country with "Hello Mr. Heartache." Although the band has released only two albums, it seemed they were tripping over a No. 1 ("There's Your Trouble," "Cowboy Take Me Away") or top 10 ("Ready to Run," "Tonight, the Heartache's on Me") song at nearly every turn.

Robison and Seidel ripped the place up again midway through the show with a blistering bluegrass break, followed by "Let 'er Rip," and then more pure country with 'Heartache' as the girls continually mixed the pace.

There were some pleasant surprises throughout the evening. Singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow, wielding an accordion, sang and played with the Chicks on their hauntingly elegant No. 1 hit, "You Were Mine." Crow is a big Chicks fan herself, and has said that from the first time she heard it, she had wished "You Were Mine" was her song. She reappeared later to perform her own hit, "Strong Enough," with the girls.

Austin, Texas, singer/songwriter Patty Griffin, whose folk/rock style, piercing vocals and pointed lyrics have inspired the Chicks, performed a moving warm-up set, drawing from her two albums, "Living With Ghosts" and "Flaming Red." She also joined the Chicks in performing "Let Him Fly," written by her and appearing on the Chicks' "Fly" album.

While the band's forte tends to be the more up-tempo tunes, those more introspective songs, performed in a comfortable, living room-like setting, provided some of the night's most rewarding moments.

But the girls never settled down long. Natalie Maines, the band's lead singer and emotional igniter, wouldn't allow it. She launched the band into a rambunctious version of Bonnie Raitt's "Give It Up or Let Me Go,'' punctuated by Robison's wily slide guitar (though she's no Bonnie Raitt).

Maines' vocals suit the band's high-spirited aura to a T. But if there's one pitfall, it's that in this setting, where she has to pour it on heavy, she occasionally verges on sounding shrill, particularly in hitting highs, though her tone is pitch perfect in lower octaves or slower tempo songs.

This is the first headline tour for the Chicks, and it seemed to show in the first couple of songs, rushed as if as if they had to hurry to make way for the main event. But they hit their stride and smoothed out early.　

At one point, the girls stood back and showed slides of themselves growing up, accompanied by biting commentary that was a hit with the crowd. There was some needless gimmickry - between-act hosts who held contests, gave away prizes and thought they had to scream into their mikes to be heard, fake snow blown over the crowd at the conclusion of "Cold Day in July," a big inflatable fly (get it, the "Fly" tour) cast about the arena between acts, the stage surrounded with a drape resembling a pair of trousers that fall once the zipper is pulled　down (get it, the "Fly" tour) to launch the headline act.

But it was all in good fun and well-received by the boisterous crowd.

The girls finished strong, fanning out in the audience for a raucous performance of "Goodbye Earl" while the song's video played on screens behind the stage. And they found their way back to the front for one last encore, their signature hit, "Wide Open Spaces." It brought full circle the Dixie Chicks' strongest themes, women striking out on their own, taking control of their lives, refusing to play a subordinate role.

Throughout the arena, women bought into that role, sporting T-shirts and caps with slogans such as "Chicks Rule." On this night, unmistakably, they did.