10/10/16
Pam and I went to see the Dixie Chicks at the Hollywood Bowl. I had never seen them live before. Neither had Pam. Of course, Pam was not into Country music when they essentially stopped touring about a decade ago a
fter intense criticism of their somewhat prophetic, and shockingly tame, anti-Iraq war sentiment in 2003. The result of expressing that sentiment was an absolute shit storm. The consequences of which were their banishment from Country Radio, their creation of a genre neutral masterpiece of an album titled Taking The Long Way in response, their loss of a fan base, and ultimately, their retreat from touring. When Pam noticed that they were going to play at the Bowl this year, there was no doubt in my mind that we were going.
The Dixie Chicks sound has always been somewhat unique. With roots in bluegrass, they have morphed into contemporary country, alternative country, and pop. Irrespective of the genre, the Dixie Chicks are led by an amazing trio of women musicians who excel at playing many stringed instruments, ranging from the acoustic guitar to the fiddle and viola to the banjo and dobro, an inverted single cone resonator guitar. While Natalie Maines, their lead singer, is a rare talent, the group’s overall sound is boosted by the harmonies of the two sisters, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, who complete the trio. As we listened to them at the Bowl, we were transfixed. The show we saw was the 70th, and final, show of their tour. Despite being at the back end of the tour, or may be because of it, once they took the stage, we were treated to a perfect night.
The opening act, Elle King, was a conundrum to me. Elle King has a tremendous voice when she chooses to use it in a less in your face, I’m tougher than the rest, sort of way. It is light and sweet, and in my opinion, should be used to sing ballads accompanied by an acoustic guitar. There were several moments during her set when she did that, usually in the opening notes and lyrics of a song. At those times, I was an Elle King fan. Unfortunately for me, those moments were few and far between. The other moments were filled with poorly mixed, over sung sounds that ranged from tolerable to awful. It really didn’t help that her fairly low voice meshed almost perfectly with the drum beats and bass notes, making her lyrics impossible to decipher. If that was not bad enough, she had the temerity to make a partial parody of “Landslide” when she teamed with the Dixie Chicks to cover the Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac classic. I have an offbeat sense of humor so I can understand wanting to play around with lyrics now and then, but certain songs are sacred and should not be f***ed with. Landslide is one of those songs. In addition, to my ears, her vocals did not mesh well with Natalie Maines. I am not sure why the Dixie Chicks selected her to tour with them. Maybe it was her non-mainstream, outlaw persona that endeared her to them. Maybe they saw something in her I did’t. Either way, I have no immediate plans to see one of her shows again. If I do see her again, I may require more Tequila and doughnuts than I can safely consume.
P
art of the allure of the Dixie Chicks show was that they played well known songs, making the show a great big party. Sure they added a few unexpected covers of songs by Dylan, Beyoncé, yes Beyoncé, Patty Griffin, Ben Harper, and, of course, Fleetwood Mac. In addition, I thoroughly enjoyed the bluegrass instrumental version of “Single Ladies (Put a Ring On it),” another Beyoncé song. But the majority of the show was a trip down memory lane for me. There were no highs and lows, just one flawless song after another. Shockingly, there was one costume change, albeit a simple one, after which Natalie proclaimed that this was the first tour with a costume change in their history. If pressed, I would say I liked the acoustic series of songs when they played seated and informally interacted with the crowd the best, but “Sin Wagon'” “Goodbye Earl,” “Ready To Run,” “Wide Open Spaces” and “Cowboy Take Me Away” were show stoppers, making any ranking close to impossible.
My only complaint was that everyone was so into the show, I had to stand just about the whole time, arguably not a serious complaint. I have seen a lot of shows this year and this one ranks right up there as one of the best. I would never need either Tequila nor doughnuts to see them again. I just hope I do not have to wait a decade to do so.