The Dixie Chicks were just finding their groove Friday night in front of 9,067 fans at North Little Rock's Verizon Arena, opening with "The Long Way Around" on a stylishly designed stage. And then, as they roared into the second song, the unthinkable happened -- a fiddle screech so loud and long that people were covering their ears -- if they were quick enough.
The band's lead singer, Natalie Maines, calmly assessed the situation, noting that it had never happened before and saying, "Trump and the Russians were involved somehow." A delay ensued as the band left the stage while those in the know made adjustments.
And then the band returned to play again. And the horrible screech came back again. But rather than just walk off in a huff, the band obviously respected that old show-biz maxim, "The show must go on." And it did.
The Dixie Chicks played for more than two hours, adding perhaps another 15 minutes for technical delays. The set list might have undergone some changes or rearranging, but the fans still got what they had come to hear from a band that had not toured the United States or released any new music in a decade.
The list included "Some Days You Gotta Dance," "Sin Wagon," "Cowboy Take Me Away," "Wide Open Spaces," "Easy Silence," "White Trash Wedding," "Ready to Run," a nice version of Prince's "Nothing Compares 2 U," a rollicking "Goodbye Earl" singalong and even a shout-out to Beyonce via her "Daddy Lessons."
"Travelin' Soldier" and "Don't Let Me Die in Florida" led to an encore that featured "Not Ready To Make Nice" and Ben Harper's optimistic closer, "Better Way."
Maines' band mates and founding members, sisters Martie Maguire on fiddle and mandolin and Emily Strayer on banjo, lap steel and other instruments, were almost as wild as Maines. Five men also ably backed the Chicks on guitars, bass, keyboards and drums, two of whom, Maines took pleasure in mentioning, come from Little Rock.
Special effects were extremely special; the stage lit up in various ways, and projections on the back of the stage seemed to be state-of-the-art.
Newcomer Elle King delivered an energetic 40-minute opening set, highlighted by her big hit, "X's & Oh's," along with a cover of what she called her all-time favorite song, The Beatles' "Oh! Darling." She later joined the Chicks for their well-loved version of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide."
Metro on 09/11/2016