The Chicks review – barn-burning virtuosity and cut-glass vocals

Rain no match for the pop-country icons as the Texans dazzle crowds with tracks from their comeback album and old favourites

By Huw Baines, The Guardian

The clouds make good on their promise as the Chicks embark on the unapologetic Not Ready to Make Nice, but the rain isn’t a match for Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire in three-part harmony. The pop-country icons are locked in all night, skipping around technical difficulties and swirling wind with grit, humour and outlandish musicianship.

They emerge after a blast of Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation, its sentiment pointed given the long shadow cast by the Chicks (they cut the "Dixie" in 2020 due to the term’s ties to the Confederate south) being ostracised from the country establishment two decades ago after coming out against George W Bush and the Iraq war.

That the episode occurred when the trio were already ensconced as one of the most successful country acts of all time shows how far back their influence stretches. Older songs, such as Sin Wagon and Wide Open Spaces, flit between barn-burning virtuosity, particularly Maguire’s dazzling fiddle solos, and slick radio fare that set the table for artists including Taylor Swift and the night’s well-received opening act, Maren Morris.

But it’s material from 2020’s Gaslighter, a teeth-bared riff on divorce that served as their comeback LP, that really pops. Maines sells each kiss-off with glee, throwing up middle fingers and threatening to stomp a hole in the stage, while Julianna Calm Down is a marvel of melody and lyrical sleight of hand carried off with cut-glass vocal interplay.

There are moments when the staging helps to drive home the sharper edges of songs – during Tights on My Boat a video package shows Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump riding a rainbow unicorn as Maines sings “you’re going to get what’s coming to you” – but elsewhere it’s almost anti-spectacle. The screen behind the band is only fitfully in use, making the show feel small until some spotlights make a dent in the gloom, but they rise to this challenge and even manage to enliven a sit-down acoustic section, with Cowboy Take Me Away’s refrain simply too big to be contained by the arrangement.

Having already spent 14 years on the sidelines between 2006’s Taking the Long Way and Gaslighter, the added dislocation of the pandemic was likely hard to stomach. At one point, Maguire removes her in-ear monitors to better hear the crowd singing, her smile letting slip what it means for three voices to become a few thousand.

The Chicks still pack a political punch with their own brand of country-pop at Cardiff Castle

The Chicks put on an unapologetic performance at Cardiff Castle last night just days after their set at Glastonbury

by Katie Hoggan, Wales Online

A sea of cowboy hats and boots lined the grounds of Cardiff Castle to see popular country-pop band, The Chicks, who took to the stage last night in Cardiff on a rainy Tuesday - just days after their set at Glastonbury.

It's twenty years after their fateful gig in London, when their bold decision to call out George W. Bush on the eve of the US invasion of Iraq led to the hit band facing a huge backlash and being blacklisted by the country music industry.

But now they're back, The Chicks show no signs of standing down. Joan Jett's Bad Reputation played as the show opened and three defiant-looking women- Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire-stroll onto the stage looking tough and glamorous in sequined getups.

After the band opened with Sin Wagon, they performed Gaslighter from their 2020 studio album of the same name. An angry letter to Maines' ex-husband actor Adrian Pasdar, the lead vocalist sang about lies, denial and gaslighting while images of women at war and heels marching on the ground flashed on screens behind her.

After performing the playful Texas Man and the stripped-down Juliana Calm Down, Maines addressed the crowd to tell us we were "awesome". "We've had a couple days to enjoy your city and what a party town," added Maine, "And we come from Texas so that's really saying something."

The Chicks went on to perform their well-loved earlier hits including Wide Open Spaces, Cowboy Take Me Away and Travelin' Soldier. The three women harmonized beautifully, with the ease of friends who have been playing together for decades. Martie Maguire was a vision of serenity as she played impressive fiddle solos and Emily Strayer was cool incarnate as she strummed the guitar and banjo.

Their set did not shy away from being political in true The Chicks style as an on-screen animation showed Putin and Trump drowning together on an inflatable unicorn dingy as the band sang the Tights on My Boat lyrics 'You're gonna get what you got coming to ya'. They also performed their activist anthem March March as clips from the Black Lives Matter movement played behind them as well as images of women holding signs with messages including 'Keep your laws off our bodies'.

One of the most touching moments of the evening came when Maines introduced their cover of Landslide, noting that she had just given birth to her son Slade when she recorded the song years ago. Slade is playing guitar with the band on their world tour and played the opening chords of the cover last night before his mum began to sang the Fleetwood Mac lyrics. But it was their energetic, famous cover of Beyonce's Daddy Issues that truly stole the show.

Although it was a pretty gloomy Cardiff evening, The Chicks brought high-energy performances, powerful political messages and soulful country music to the city last night at the Welsh stop of their utterly unapologetic tour.