Chicks dig the Dixie Chicks.
That much was evident at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night (OK, a lot of guys
dig them, too).
But it was mostly women in cowboy hats, swingy skirts, skimpy tops who leaped
to their feet when the trio from Texas took the stage.
The Chicks didn't disappoint, opening the elaborate show with the popular
anti-domestic violence anthem "Goodbye Earl."
More hits followed as the three traipsed around a circular stage, with the
crowd frequently singing along during the nearly two-hour performance. Lead singer Natalie Maines delighted fans when she
ventured toward the arena crowd on catwalks. Fiddle player Martie Maguire and banjo player Emily Robison often played to the
select crowd filling the gaps between the main stage and the circular walkway.
Elaborate videos, sets and lighting complemented the circular stage.
Maines demonstrated a range of emotions from the gentle touch of motherhood
in "Godspeed (Sweet Dreams)" to the heartbreak of "Travelin' Soldier" to the frustration in "Am I the Only One (Who's Ever
Felt This Way)."
Maguire and Robison are competent musicians in their own right and backed
up by an eight-piece band, their old-timey sounds of fiddle, dobro, mandolin and banjo came across with a tightness especially
evident in "White Trash Wedding" and the instrumental "Lil' Jack Slade." (When was the last time you heard an arena crowd
cheering a fiddle solo?)
Of course, the "incident" had to be addressed.
Earlier this year, the Chicks went from singing the National Anthem at the
Super Bowl to being banned on some country channels when Maines told a London audience she was "ashamed" that President Bush
hails from their home state of Texas.
The implications of that ban remain. While the Chicks played Denver, earlier
in the day their manager was on Capitol Hill. He testified before a Senate committee that control of radio stations by a few
large corporations could inhibit free speech when a corporation orders a ban like that of the Dixie Chicks.
"Tonight we're feeling a little extra sensitive," Maines said. "We've got
a pep in our step and you'll never believe what gave us that --- C-SPAN. ... There's something about that Sen. John McCain."
Her speech drew some cheers and some boos from the crowd before she began
the opening line of "Truth # 2:" "You don't like the sound of the truth coming from my mouth."
Politics out of the way, the Chicks returned to the country-rock that packed
the Pepsi Center, culminating with their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," "Ready to Run" and "Wide Open Spaces."
Outside the Pepsi Center before the show, objection to Maines' anti-Bush remark
wasn't in evidence. But Denver residents Ann Livingston and Polly Furay said they benefited from the ire over the statement.
"We actually got our tickets as an act of protest," Livingston said. "Her
parents gave us their tickets."
"I'm defying their protest by going to the show," Furay said. She said her
parents live in Boulder.
And it isn't as if the Chicks weren't rebels before from the opening "Goodbye
Earl" to the show-closing rocker "Sin Wagon" ("When it's my turn to march up to glory, I'm going to have one hell of a story"),
the Chicks are plenty defiant.
In the end, those who came to hear the music never mind the politics were
the ones rewarded Tuesday. For many fans, show-opener folksy rocker Michelle Branch offered a preliminary treat.
Slick Chicks Wow Pepsi
Crowd
By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News
Let's talk about the Dixie Chicks. But for a change,
let's talk about their music.
The trio has gotten caught up in so much political flak the past few months
it has been easy to overlook that they're easily at the peak of their career. Their strongest album, Home, is a nearly
flawless work, proof that modern country music can be slick and polished yet still be full of heart and soul and pay respect
to its roots.
The Chicks reminded us of that fact Tuesday night, combining the best of Home
with the best songs that came before that.
Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison blasted unrestrained enthusiasm
from the very first song, Goodbye Earl. The crowd sang along as Maines belted out the song of revenge and accompanied
it with a dirty, pumping bass line that rocked the rafters.
Those classics stood up perfectly with newer songs such as Long Time Gone,
with all the women hitting all the sustained high notes with nary a care for the thin atmosphere.
The Dixie Chicks are smart in that they've never pigeonholed themselves. Rock,
pop and soul influences are neatly dovetailed with folk, bluegrass and country, with no concern whether a song fits their
image.
That found them covering Fleetwood Mac's Landslide as well as Bob Dylan's
Mississippi in Tuesday night's rousing set, with guitarist David Grissom dropping a burning rock solo into Am I
The Only One.
The songs are key: More than most artists, they realize it comes down to songs
and won't tolerate any bad ones.
They marry that with the best technology money can buy; the in-the-round stage
setup made for great sightlines and sound from nearly everywhere, with a meandering walkway that brought them close to fans
and shimmered like a cool, flowing river.
The band wisely lets the music do most of the talking, though Maines can't
resist speaking about "the incident" that made them a target of conservative ire. Her mention of it brought rousing cheers
and a few boos.
"We like to assume the boos are because you're mad about what happened to
us," Maines teased.
The funniest and most biting politics of the night, though, was the hilarious
string of songs the Chicks had played over the PA before they came out - What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?,
Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Our Lips are Sealed, Band on the Run and Good Girl Gone Bad, and culminating
in a blasting version of Born in the USA.
Point made, and made very well.
Return To Tour Dates/Reviews page
Return To Top Of The World Tour page
