OT-Concet Review: The Dixie Chicks at The Joe!

[maddogesq]

This was one of my highlight events of the summer. Despite the bullshit media reporting, that venue was better than 90 percent full. My guess was about 12,000 out of a capacity of 14,000. For the first stop where the band didn’t get much radio support, I think it was an impressive turnout. And I thought it ironic that the country radio that ignored the group had their little displays set up outside. I guess having a number one album despite lack of same-genre airplay might have made those stations think twice about not having a display out side the show.

It was, as the Free Press critic noted,
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060722/ENT04/607220374
an interesting mix of typical country fans, anti-Bush people, and just regular folks out for a good show. And there is not one person, IMHO, that walked out of that arena disappointed.

The surprising part in the beginning was the warm-up act, a woman by the name of Anna Nalick. She had a beautiful voice, and had a pretty tight, hard-nose band behind her.

In case some of you did not know, “that song,” as I call it (Not Ready to Make Nice) has struck me very personally. It’s not just the reason they wrote it--a position I fully support—-but it also struck a chord as to things I have experienced in the four years since that tragedy on I-69, which I will not go over again. I have written to people in the past when they wrote something that touches me in such a way, and I will probably get up the courage one day and write the Chicks. As someone who has dabbled in songwriting, I can tell you that this piece of music speaks volumes…to me anyway.

They did a very fair blend of old and new stuff, and as expected, the musicians in the core group, as well as the backup band, were totally top drawer, I wasn’t as energized as I was after sitting second row for say, Roxy Music or Emerson, Lake & Palmer, but the feeling I had as I left Joe Louis Arena was pretty darn close.