IF you've been to more than one pop-country concert, you'll know the drill. It doesn't diverge too far off script.
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The performer gets up and sings a few party tunes about drinking or living life in the country. It's all very safe and oh so, "bro".
Not so, the Chicks - formerly known as the Dixie Chicks before they dropped the "Dixie" in 2020 due to its connotations with Confederacy-era southern USA.
Despite being the most commercially-successful all-female US act of all time with 30.5 million records sold and 13 Grammy Awards, the Chicks have hardly toed the line.
They famously felt "ashamed" of former US president and proud Texan George W. Bush due to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and questioned the blind patriotism portrayed by many Americans, which threatened to upset their conservative fan base at the peak of their career.
Some 25 years on from their breakthrough fourth album Wide Open Spaces, and first with lead vocalist Natalie Maines, the Chicks remain a potent force.
They could easily serve up a nostalgic hit-laden set and fans would have headed home happy, but Maines and her bandmates, sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer, still have plenty to say.
The Chicks' first-ever Hunter Valley show at Bimbadgen on Saturday night walked a balanced line between fun, politics, nostalgia and determination.
Four-time Grammy nominee Elle King was an inspired choice as a support act. King's bluesy and soulful brand of country-pop proved the perfect late afternoon tonic for the sunbathed Bimbadgen crowd.
With a series of tattoos, including a serpent on her throat, the 34-year-old presents herself as a country wild child.
"You guys let me in here and now you're gonna have to get me out," King cheekily threatened.
The packed Hunter Valley crowd was well-wined and ready to sing when the Chicks trio appeared at the back of the stage performing the harmonic Gaslighter.
The title track off their superb 2020 comeback album serves as a brutal dis-track to Maines' ex-husband, actor Adrian Pasdar.
The lyrics of "Gaslighter, denier, doin' anything to get your ass farther," resonated with anyone cheated or screwed over in love.
There were plenty of other cuts from Gaslighter, including the incendiary How Do You Sleep, March March - which featured a video with names of black people killed by US police such as George Floyd - and Tights On My Boat, which included a video with Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump riding inflatable pool toys.
It was impossible not to feel a little awkward for Maines' 22-year-old son and guitarist Slade Pasdar, who was part of the Chicks' six-piece backing band, as his mother aimed the barbed, "And you can tell the girl who left her tights on my boat/ That she can have you now," at his father.
A cover of Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton's Rainbowland was added to their set for the Australia tour and was accompanied by support for the LGBTIQA+ community when Maines told Bimbadgen, "we celebrate pride 365 years a year."
There was also support shown for the #MeToo movement and stricter gun laws. The latter point was made through a sobering video displaying the number of casualties in gun massacres around the world, including Port Arthur in 1996.
However, the Chicks concert never felt weighed down by these heavy themes. Popular singalong tracks like Wide Open Spaces, Ready To Run, Landslide, Cowboy Take Me Away and Not Ready To Make Nice proved you can seamlessly mix conscience with accessible pop country hits.
Strayer was a ball of energy throughout, juggling banjo, guitar and backing vocals and Maguire's fiddle and mandolin provided the bluegrass flavour that's always been central to the Chicks' sound.
There was no encore, but there didn't need to be. The Chicks sung what needed to be sung and Bimbadgen lapped it up.
Three decades on the Chicks remain the unrivalled queens of US country.
Josh Leeson
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
Josh Leeson is an entertainment and features journalist, specialising in music, at the Newcastle Herald. He first joined the masthead in 2008 after stints at the Namoi Valley Independent and Port Stephens Examiner and has previously covered sport including the Asian Cup, A-League, Surfest, cricket and rugby league.
