The Chicks ditched that historic/geographic part of their original name in 2020, four years after their previous concert at Simmons Bank Arena, and it seems to have energized and mobilized them to some extent. The three women, backed by six other musicians, gave their 7,000 or so fans a rockin’ good show Saturday night.
Formed in 1990, but not really setting the woods on fire, so to speak, until 1995 when Natalie Maines joined sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, the band was rolling along, much loved by country fans until Maines famously expressed her opinion of the U.S. president in 2003 while performing in England.
That was then; this is now, and one supposes those who decided not to continue loving a band that took a stand did not attend the concert, since the crowd was loudly exuberant during the two-hour show that opened with “Gaslighter,” the title cut of the group’s 2020 album. Several songs featured fiery singalongs by fans, especially “Wide Open Spaces,” “Cowboy Take Me Away” and “Not Ready to Make Nice.” There were some entertaining video bits, animated things, old film clips and so forth that accompanied some of the 22 songs.
And the group has certainly not given up expressing controversial opinions in their songs and the accompanying projected images, which included women’s issues, gun deaths and even some of the nation’s most divisive politicians, who were depicted riding seahorses in one of the cartoonish bits. The songs “March March” and a cover of Patty Griffin’s “Florida” best illustrated the Chicks’ determined stances, as did “Sleep at Night,” on which Maines included a couple of middle finger salutes.
Though Maines played guitar at times, she mainly focused on vocals, while her mates, who sang at times, mostly focused on their instruments: Strayer on banjo and Maguire, who was especially classy on fiddle. Maines (whose father, Lloyd Maines, is one of the finest musicians in Texas), introduced her son, Slade, 22, who played lead guitar on one of the cover tunes the band has long been famous for, even making it their own, Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide.”
And speaking of Fleetwood Mac, the opening act, Wild Rivers, a young threesome from Toronto, augmented by a drummer and a bassist, at times reminded one of the mid-1970s Mac. The trio’s 45-minute set included some excellent songs, especially “Amsterdam” and “Heart Attack,” plus a version on Sheryl Crow’s “If It Makes You Happy.” Singer Devan Glover had an energetic Stevie Nicks-ish style on stage.