Dixie Quicks Fly Into The Cajundome

By Patrick Richardson, The Town Talk

Bzzzzzzz.

The sold-out crowd begins searching for the unearthly buzz. Much like the uproar of the crowd, the buzz gets louder, until someone points upward.

Laughter.

From behind a curtain fashioned to look like a pair of blue jeans with a giant zipper, a gigantic fly emerges, proceeding to buzz above the audience, some 30 to 40 feet. The buzz gets louder from both speakers and audience.

Someone says, "Only the Dixie Chicks."

"The Dixie Chicks Fly Tour" sponsored by MusicCountry.com, hit the Lafayette Cajundome on Friday, June 30, a single stop on their 70 city tour.

The Dixie Chicks promised that their first-ever headline tour would be just for the fans, and they keep their promises.

Before the concert, fans watched other fans act crazy on a small stage at the opposite end of the arena. Audience members were hand-picked for a dance competition with the chance to win free prizes, including front-row seats, hosted by surprise guest, "Real World Seattle" cast-member Nathan.

The one thing the Dixie Chicks do not do is take themselves seriously. Notorious for having a blast no matter where they are, the Chicks worked at conveying that to their audience. They began before the concert even started.

Above the stage, a screen offered music videos, with the CMT logo at the bottom of the screen. Although Country Music Television is the tour's media sponsor, the Country was crossed out and the popular country music channel's namesake was changed appropriately enough to Chicks Music Television.

Various spots spaced out between the music videos show the Chicks having fun. The Chicks' limo stops at a red light so the girls do the only obvious thing they can -- play "Chinese Fire Drill" in the middle of the street. Chick Natalie Maines mistakes a bidet in a fancy hotel bathroom for a water fountain in another short spot, while the Chicks "trash" a hotel room and. stroll through the lobby like supermodels only to trip down the stairs in two other spots.

After the pre-show festivities, mandolin playing Ricky Skaggs took the stage. He gave this Cajun audience a culture lesson in bluegrass, a musical form far different from this Tabasco-wielding audience's experiences with zydeco and jazz.

Zppppppp.

The blue jean curtain opens as the fly is unzipped and the Dixie Chicks emerge with "Ready to Run."

Not only do they know how to make an entrance, they do it in style. Natalie Maines chose, a sleek black dress and knee-high boots. Emilie Robison wore shiny camouflaged pants and top. Martie Seidel sported a pair of knee-high black boots and sparkling skill. After the girls' dramatic entrance, a soulful rendition of "Tonight the Heartache's on Me" followed as the Chicks proved to the audience that they owned the stage.

Following the theme of fun entertainment, the Chicks took a break from singing hit songs from both of their award-winning albums, Wide Open Spaces and Fly. The Chicks called this their own VH1 Behind the Music moment. A couch and small table were brought on stage and the three screens located above the stage suddenly projected cute and lovable childhood photos of the Chicks. This introduced a comical family slideshow.

Slides of all three Chicks represented different stages in their childhood from young child to prom pictures. In one picture a young brunette girl is posing for the camera, which prompts blonde Martie to say, "That's when my mom dyed my hair brown."

It wasn't long until Natalie led the girls into a public service announcement about "mall bangs" displaying an '80s-era school portrait of herself with high bangs adorning her head. Natalie confesses, "This picture was taken about a year after they went out of style." The girls joke, announcing that anyone who is wearing mall bangs now is free to leave the concert to go home and fix them.

The seemingly impromptu slide show was followed by melodic tunes, including "Heartbreak Town," Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough" and "Fly," a song the Chicks say was written for them by Patti Griffin.

Crow wasn't the only artist receiving tribute from the Dixie Chicks. Bonnie Raitt was invoked as "The Queen of Blues" and the Chicks rocked the Cajundome with her hit, "Give It Up or Let Me Go."

Another deviation from the Dixie Chicks' hit records occurred when Skaggs joined the girls onstage in a foot-stomping bluegrass instrumental, accompanied by Martie's fiddle and Emilie's electric banjo.

The concert began to wind down with "You Were Mine," a song both Martie and Emilie cherish. It was the first song the two finished together, before Natalie joined the group as lead vocal and during a time when they said they couldn't even get close to a record deal. "You Were Mine" is a tribute to those who have dealt with divorce. The sisters say divorce touched their lives as teens.

"Some Days You Gotta Dance" blasted through the speakers inducing much of the audience to do their own dancing. Natalie, breaking away from her rock-n-roll attitude onstage, yelled, "Come on! Everybody do their best white-girl dance!" Before she finished, all three of the Chicks were onstage dancing spastically with all their hearts in a display that would put anyone to shame if caught in public with them. The audience roared with laughter and just joined in.

The showmanship of the Chicks began to reveal itself again as snow began to fall on the audience as they belted their latest hit, "Cold Day in July," a song about a woman being left by a man who promised never to leave. Following the snow, a background of stars lit the Chicks as they sang the fan-favorite love song "Cowboy Take Me Away."

The girls ended on the raunchy and exhilarating tune "Sin Wagon," backed by a flaring backdrop of fire-red and the sound of Martie's violin.

The Dixie Chicks left the stage on a high-energy note, leaving a ranting audience with the desire to hear the controversial, self-indulgent "Goodbye Earl." The song, about Wanda, a battered woman, and her friend Mary Anne murdering Earl, Wanda's abusive husband, has been a radio and video favorite since its debut.

After a few minutes of loud screaming, the crowd's cheering became an uncontrollable uproar. Suddenly it died down, and the entire Cajundome turned to the back of the arena where Natalie began, "Mary Anne and Wanda were the best of friends..." The crowd went crazy. Spotlights lit Emilie and Martie on the second level seating area flanking the audience.

The Chicks left once again, and the buzz of the crowd peaked. The true Dixie Chicks fans knew. "Wide Open Spaces," the song that launched the Dixie Chicks into immediate fame had yet to be sung. The Chicks had to sing "Wide Open Spaces," and they did. Natalie alerted the fans that they were required to sing along at the top of their lungs. And they did.

The screens showed a cloudy sky above the Chicks. Though singing to the point of a scream, it was easy to exclude the sound of thousands of fans also screaming. Focusing on the white clouds and electrifying sound of the Dixie Chicks, everyone in the audience felt as if they were in their own wide, open space, flying.

The song ended. The Dixie Chicks had accomplished what they set out to do -- entertain fans from the minute they arrived.

Bzzzzzzz.

A fly crawls across the three screens above the stage.

Snap!

A flyswatter lands on the bug, and its lifeless body falls off the screen.

It's over. The Dixie Chicks have flown the coop.

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