The Chicks bring fiery journey to stage

The Chicks, MGM Fenway, Boston, Friday, Oct. 9.

The first time I wrote about The Chicks, a gentleman emailed me to tell me essentially that politics and music don’t mix, and I should stay in my lane. If you’re reading this sir, you should probably stop right here.

The Chicks brought their “Taking the Long Way 20^th Anniversary Tour” to MGM Fenway Friday, Oct. 9, and for nearly two hours it was all about politics and music. How could it not be? “Taking the Long Way” came out in May 2006, just three years after what lead singer Natalie Maines called “the controversy.” And you can’t talk about The Chicks without talking about the controversy because they still, 23 years later, aren’t backing down. 

And good for them. In an age where people can’t apologize quick enough for saying something they meant to say but that society told them they should be sorry for — The Chicks are an anomaly.

But let’s back up here. With no opening act, the night was billed as an evening with The Chicks. What it really was, however, was a live documentary that told the story of three amazing women with songs, reflections, storytelling, and old home movies. 

Sisters Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire and Maines sat on stage with their band around them and told their story, literally in their own voices, to a couple thousand of their closest friends. 

The Chicks came out of the gate with “The Long Way Around,” considered to be a defiant response to the 2003 incident where Maines told a London concert crowd that they were ashamed that the president (George Bush at the time) was from Texas, oh and that they were against his war in Iraq too. 

The backlash that hit them was a massive tidal wave of hate and fearmongering, complete with death threats.

The packed house got a primer on “the controversy” when a film clip of Maines making the statement was shown, followed up by a montage that just gave the tiniest of tastes of the hate that flew their way in the wake. 

The video ended with the woman who famously told them she wished they would just shut up and sing.

“No, thank you,” Maines said. 

About two years later, Rick Rubin, the legendary record producer and co-founder of Def Jam Records, reached out to the trio about producing an album. Maines said Rubin wanted them to co-write everything on the album because he thought they might have something to say. 

“A little bit,” she said as the crowd roared. 

The Chicks spent the next two hours tearing through every song on the 14-track album, which includes what is absolutely their most defiant musical response, “Not Ready to Make Nice.”

But it also includes the beautiful “Easy Silence,” the rocking “Lubbock or Leave It,” the nostalgic “Bitter End,” and the oh so lovely “Lullaby.”

Partway through the set, they also showed videos of people who supported The Chicks in their time of exile, when radio stations refused to play them, and former fans smashed their CDs — like Maine’s father Lloyd. “Praise the Lloyd,” Marty quipped. 

There were also clips of musicians that happily worked with them, including Mike Campbell, guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, John Mayer, and Chad Smith, drummer for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Other videos were much more intimate, like the clip where they discussed trying to work around a particular 10-day window in Martie’s infertility treatments. That chat gave birth to, I know, pun totally intended — the song, “So Hard.”

They ended the set — or was it the concert, with “I Hope,” which is way more gospel than rock and highlighted the powerhouse band that supports the women, who, singing aside, are stellar musicians. 

There were moments where Martie’s fiddle sounded like actual wailing tears. She also played a mean mandolin. Emily played everything from banjo to acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and pedal steel. Natalie played guitar, tambourine and a little autoharp (on “Lullaby”). 

After “I Hope,” the curtains closed, and the credits rolled — literally, credits rolled on the curtains while the lights came about halfway up. Some people left, but most lingered as one does at the end of a movie, reading the credits like there’s a test. 

After a few minutes, a message came up on the curtain saying The Chicks would be back in a few minutes and when they did come back, they left the anger and frustration of “Long Way Around” on the floor and sailed through, not an encore but another entire set.

They ripped into “Goodbye Earl” off their fifth studio album “Fly.” A huge fan favorite about a guy who abuses his wife and is then murdered by her and her best friend. 

They segued into their anthem and the song that became an anthem for every woman anywhere, “Wide Open Spaces,” from their 1998 breakthrough album of the same name.

“Daddy Lessons,” by Beyoncé (long before she had her own country album), “Cowboy Take Me Away,” a cover of “Landslide,” and the emotionally driven “Gaslighter” followed before they wrapped up with the raucous “Sin Wagon,” “praise the lord and pass the ammunition” that quite literally left the remaining throngs dancing in the aisles. 

It was a fascinating evening. It was all spit and vinegar but sprinkled with intimate moments between the women who have now been together for nearly 30 years, home movies of their babies, videos of recording and writing sessions, pretty much their whole story in all its vulnerable, humble, slightly hostile, and jacked up attitude glory.

The Chicks are without a doubt, and admittedly so, and unapologetically political — it’s one of the things their fans, and they are rabid fans, love about them. 

But at their heart, they are really just storytellers. From having to kill off Earl the abuser, to the tale of the “Travelin’ Soldier” (total tearjerker) to “Silent House,” written about Natalie’s grandmother who had Alzheimer’s and even “Not Ready to Make Nice,” they are simply great storytellers. 

Frankly, as open and honest and on fire as they are on this tour, I’m pretty sure The Chicks could have sat on stage making PB&J sandwiches for two hours and the crowd would have cheered just as loud. 

Lucky for us, we got a whole lot more — it was about politics and music, but it was also about resilience, friendship, and love — and there is plenty of room in the music industry for all of that and more.

And to the gentleman who thinks politics doesn’t belong in music — have you never heard of Woody Gutherie, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Rage Against the Machine, U2, heck, even Springsteen and Bad Bunny. Politics doesn’t belong in music — pshaw. 

The Chicks set list

Act I: Taking the Long Way 

• The Long Way Around
• Easy Silence
• Not Ready to Make Nice
• Everybody Knows
• Bitter End
• Lullaby
• Lubbock or Leave It
• Silent House
• Favorite Year
• Voice Inside My Head
• Like It
• Baby Hold On
• So Hard
• I Hope

Act II: Greatest Hits & Covers

• Goodbye Earl
•  Wide Open Spaces 
• White Trash Wedding
• Daddy Lessons / Long Time Gone
• Cowboy Take Me Away
• Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover)
• Gaslighter
• Traveling Soldier
• Sin Wagon

Chris Stevens is a freelance concert reviewer who covers country, indie rock, and rock music.