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Democracy Review: Dixie Chicks
The following concert review can be received equally as a political review on the state of our fragile democracy.
Concert Review: Dixie Chicks
Tue May 6, 2003 03:36 PM ET
By Deborah Wilker
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Hollywood Reporter) - In an age when just a few conglomerates own most of the radio stations, flipping off the president probably isn't the best way to boost airplay and sales. Madonna, apparently, got the memo. Natalie Maines is learning by doing.
And so it is, amid a soap opera featuring bulldozed records, canceled promos, banished songs, teary interviews and one peculiar magazine cover, that the otherwise surging Dixie Chicks come to their summer concert tour.
Yet if you had somehow missed the news and all you had to go by was the group's current stage show, you'd never know anything unusual had transpired. While Maines had allotted 15 seconds for antagonists to boo and "get it out of your system" during the first two stops on this tour, by the time she got to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday night, she was correct in sensing there was no longer any need.
The sold-out crowd was, in fact, so welcoming (not a protester in sight) that you have to question whether the mass outpouring of hate for this band was ever all that real in the first place. Not that it matters.
With years of steady fame behind them, Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison have weathered storms before and certainly have the poise and catalog to weather this one. With their banjos, guitars, fiddles, snazzy outfits and humorous patter, these women bring a level of substance and flair to the country stage matched only by Dolly Parton. Like Parton, they are stellar instrumentalists and clever songwriters, skills that ought to keep them around just as long.
Onstage Sunday, the trio drew mostly from their current megaseller, "Home," including such statement songs as "Truth No. 2" and "Travelin' Soldier." Yet they earned the most raucous ovations during the fast-pickin' fun of "White Trash Wedding" and "Lil' Jack Slade." While the sprawling, center-floor, multilevel stage kept them too far apart at times, that's a minor quibble. By the time they soared to a close with "Ready to Run," "Wide Open Spaces" and the Stevie Nicks heartbreaker "Landslide," they'd more than delivered.
With the entire tour just about sold out, musical integrity intact and their records on the rebound, the recent events should have no long-range impact. What we should not dismiss, however, is the danger of concentrating more and more power in the hands of fewer and fewer broadcasters. If the Dixie debacle opens even a few eyes to how chilling the commercial radio landscape has become, it will have been a saga worth enduring.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
Tue May 6, 2003 03:36 PM ET
By Deborah Wilker
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (Hollywood Reporter) - In an age when just a few conglomerates own most of the radio stations, flipping off the president probably isn't the best way to boost airplay and sales. Madonna, apparently, got the memo. Natalie Maines is learning by doing.
And so it is, amid a soap opera featuring bulldozed records, canceled promos, banished songs, teary interviews and one peculiar magazine cover, that the otherwise surging Dixie Chicks come to their summer concert tour.
Yet if you had somehow missed the news and all you had to go by was the group's current stage show, you'd never know anything unusual had transpired. While Maines had allotted 15 seconds for antagonists to boo and "get it out of your system" during the first two stops on this tour, by the time she got to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday night, she was correct in sensing there was no longer any need.
The sold-out crowd was, in fact, so welcoming (not a protester in sight) that you have to question whether the mass outpouring of hate for this band was ever all that real in the first place. Not that it matters.
With years of steady fame behind them, Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Robison have weathered storms before and certainly have the poise and catalog to weather this one. With their banjos, guitars, fiddles, snazzy outfits and humorous patter, these women bring a level of substance and flair to the country stage matched only by Dolly Parton. Like Parton, they are stellar instrumentalists and clever songwriters, skills that ought to keep them around just as long.
Onstage Sunday, the trio drew mostly from their current megaseller, "Home," including such statement songs as "Truth No. 2" and "Travelin' Soldier." Yet they earned the most raucous ovations during the fast-pickin' fun of "White Trash Wedding" and "Lil' Jack Slade." While the sprawling, center-floor, multilevel stage kept them too far apart at times, that's a minor quibble. By the time they soared to a close with "Ready to Run," "Wide Open Spaces" and the Stevie Nicks heartbreaker "Landslide," they'd more than delivered.
With the entire tour just about sold out, musical integrity intact and their records on the rebound, the recent events should have no long-range impact. What we should not dismiss, however, is the danger of concentrating more and more power in the hands of fewer and fewer broadcasters. If the Dixie debacle opens even a few eyes to how chilling the commercial radio landscape has become, it will have been a saga worth enduring.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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Lead singer Natalie Maines told a British newspaper she was "ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas."
"We pulled their music two months ago, and it's been a difficult decision because how can you ignore the hottest group in country music," station manager Jerry Grant said.
He said there has been discussion about whether to reinstate the music, but the DJs, Dave Moore and Jeff Singer, became impatient.
"They made it very clear that they support wholeheartedly the president of the United States. They support wholeheartedly the troops, the military. But they also support the right of free speech," Grant said.
The station has received a couple of hundred calls and 75 percent favored playing the music.
Grand said Moore and Singer will be out for a couple of days.
"I gave them an alternative: stop it now and they'll be on suspension, or they can continue playing them and when they come out of the studio they won't have a job."
The station plans to play the group's music again eventually. "Most stations are starting to play them again anyhow a song here, a song there. I just have a problem with the way this was done. We would have put them in anyhow. But we'd like to do it on our terms," he said.
© 2003 The Associated Press