By Sean Adams, pennlive.com

It’s been quite a summer for country music concerts in our area. The tours have included representatives from the current Nashville country music scene like Jason Aldean, country-adjacent southern rock like Jason Isbell, and both alt-country and an elder statesman of outlaw country with the Outlaw Music Festival.

The Chicks represent another segment of the genre, and their concert at the Hersheypark Stadium on Aug. 10 captured the fiery spirit the group is known for. The group changed their name a few years ago, proving that they still don’t shy from controversy - if anything, they’ve only become more pugnacious for causes they believe in. 

Their opening act, Ben Harper, gives the exact opposite vibe. I’ve never seen a more intimate performance at so large a venue. Harper is truly a one-man show, performing solo at piano or seated with a variety of string instruments surrounding him. This show was the first of Harper’s concerts with The Chicks on this tour, and he took his time with a mellow set that truly brought the audience in.

“No one this old should be this big,” Harper joked, gesturing to the video screens projecting images of him. So thank you for your patience.”

Harper was patient himself as he calmly corrected a stumble on the lyrics of Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark,” something that only made him more endearing to the crowd. He sprinkled in a few covers along with his own songs, such as “Diamond on the Inside” and “Trying Not To Fall In Love With You,” and he left the audience wanting more by the end of his set.

“Y’all are in for a treat tonight,” he said, noting that the first time he saw The Chicks perform was “one of those concerts that always sticks with you.”

Then, after a montage of rebellious women of rock ranging from Joan Jett to 4 Non Blondes, The Chicks hit the stage, opening their set with the title track from their 2020 album “Gaslighter.”

The trio of Emily Strayer, Martie Maguire and Natalie Maines found crossover success on pop radio with their catchy hits and complex harmonies, and their performance in Hershey was a showcase of all of those things. With clear, bright vocals, Maines was flanked on either side by Maguire’s fiddle and Strayer’s banjo, and even their angry songs in the first few numbers sounded fun.

You see, The Chicks don’t mind picking a fight. The group was formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, a name they dropped in 2020 in the midst of a national discussion on race, law enforcement and and the legacy of slavery in the American South. That move may have been more controversial for their fans had most of their conservative audience not already abandoned them back in 2003, when they criticized George W. Bush in the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq.

But even before they fired back at those critics with the 2006 album “Taking the Long Way,” the group was recording songs like “Goodbye Earl,” a cheerful, comedic ballad about an abused woman and her best friend conspiring to murder her abuser. They’ve always made music about not putting up with any more crap.

So that was the concert in a nutshell: beautiful harmonies, intricate instrumentals, and catchy songs about being fed up, anthems of support, and scorned women taking joyful revenge.

Concert highlights for me included the rowdy hoedown lead-in to the defiant verses of “Long Time Gone,” the petty humor of a jilted lover in “Tights On My Boat,” and the heart-wrenching rendition of “Travelin’ Soldier” (originally by Bruce Robison) which I think is up there among the most devastating songs ever recorded.

For a band that has become famous for their politics, there were a few jabs thrown here and there. A screen showed Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin riding a unicorn together, and soon after had Ron DeSantis floating by wearing Micky Mouse ears. Maines noted before playing “Rainbowland” that the group believes in celebrating Pride Month all year long, and their protest song “March March” came accompanied with a list of names like Trayvon Martin and George Floyd.

The end of the show smoldered with renditions of songs about nursing grudges, both personal and professional: a cover of “Everybody Loves You” (originally by Charlotte Lawrence) from “Gaslighter,” one of many on the album themed around a bitter breakup, and “I’m Not Ready To Make Nice,” their response to the backlash from their Bush-era country fans.

Closing out their show with “Goodbye Earl,” The Chicks then took a long curtain call from an audience eager to return the message of supporting women who still aren’t ready to make nice.