Concert Reviews

The Dixie Chicks”

Chicks Do Kick Ass

Concert Review by Darren O'Neill

If the Dixie Chicks were a religion, I’d have to say that I’m one of the newly converted. While always appreciating their music, for one reason or another I had not given the band a serious listening to over the past couple of years. After friends from literally California to Kansas told me to “go see the Dixie Chicks in concert,” I decided it was time to see what all the fuss was about.

From the minute I walked in the door at Chicago’s United Center, the atmosphere was a little different than any other concert I have been to before. Without spoiling any of the surprises for those who will be heading to the show, let me just say that you should be prepared to be entertained from the moment you walk in until the last song is sung. Get to the show early, and I think you’ll be glad you did.

After a great opening set by Joe Ely, and some fun and games in the crowd, the Chicks took the stage, opening with their hit “Ready to Run” from the Runaway Bride soundtrack as well as their latest album Fly. The song pretty much set the tone for the evening as the Chicks worked the crowd and the stage as good if not better than the likes of Garth Brooks, and they did it while wearing high heels! I’d like to see Garth try that one…

Throughout the night the Chicks showed their varying musical roots, including a stripped down cover version of Sheryl Crow’s ”Strong Enough,” which would make a great addition to a future Chicks album. I do not hear many cover songs that are better than the original, but this one was better, much better. They also covered some Bonnie Raitt blues and threw in some great bluegrass licks in an instrumental medley of songs. I had to laugh as I heard Martie play the melody of the Little Feat song “Dixie Chicken” in that medley, as I don’t think much of the young crowd would have ever heard the original, or Garth Brooks’ cover version of it.

The evening was filled with one great performance after another. What I found interesting was after each song it seemed there was a change of instruments for the Chicks. These ladies are serious musicians, and could tour any day without much of a backing band. Martie’s fiddle playing was phenomenal and she played a song or two on the mandolin, and Emily played an awesome slide guitar, dobro and banjo if I remember correctly!

One of the most magical moments of the evening came at the end of “Cold Day In July” where it magically started snowing inside the United Center as the Dixie Chicks performed. It was truly one of the best concert special effects that I have ever seen, and one that I will not soon forget. It gave the song a very surreal feel as the Chicks sang with the “snowflakes” falling all around the stadium.

The most energized song on the evening was “Sin Wagon” with the Chicks playing their instruments for all they were worth with a red flame looking background behind them. As with most of the evenings songs, there was so much energy in the performance that the sold out crowd was on it’s feet dancing and singing along. The last time the United Center had this kind of crowd response, it was when a certain player named Michael Jordan was winning NBA Championships in the final seconds.

The Chicks had a special surprise in store for some of it’s fans who didn’t have the best seats. When they came out to do their first encore, the three Chicks all appeared in different parts of the arena, with Emily and Marty on the 300 level of the arena and Natalie on a platform at the back of the main floor. Before I could even wonder how in the world they made it that far across the arena in what seemed like seconds, they went into an outstanding rendition of “Goodbye Earl” with the crowd now at a fever pitch.

Returning to the stage, the Chicks performed their last song of the evening, inviting the crowd to sing along with them to “Wide Open Spaces.” The Chicago crowd was more than happy to oblige. The Chicks seemed genuinely like they were having the time of their lives up on stage, and the crowd would have stayed around all night if the Chicks would have let them!

The crowd was a pretty diverse mixture of age and gender, but it was obvious that the Chicks draw a very big crowd of the under 18 female set. They have found a band in the Dixie Chicks that obviously speaks to them, and that is not only country and bluegrass at it’s best, but they’re hip enough to know what’s going on in the rest of the music world. At one humorous point in the evening, the Chicks showed pictures of what their kids would look like if they were to get together with some famous men. It appeared that most of the crowd knew who Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was, even though the Chicks said they just included him because “he looked funny!”

So, after going to my first Dixie Chicks concert I can honestly say that they more than deserve the “Entertainer of the Year” title that the CMA has bestowed onto them. They have definitely struck the right chord by taking country music into the next century. The atmosphere, the energy level and the level of performance made this for a perfect evening.