Saturday, August 12, 2006

Accidents and Accusations


The Chicks
Originally uploaded by SarahorNicholas.
This post is dedicated to Jessica Lotz, The Dixie Chicks #1 fan. :)

So from the file of "Things we did several weeks that I haven't posted about yet"... For my birthday, Nicholas and I took the train to Philly to see The Dixie Chicks on July 25. I was going to be out of town when they came to D.C. so we made a night out of it and cashed in some Marriott Rewards Points.

For those of you who don't already know, I am a huge Chicks fan. I was hooked from their debut single "I Can Love You Better" released my junior year of high school and have been a devoted fan every since. I buy all their CDs the day they come out and have seen them in concert three times. Of course, my devotion has only intensified since they've taken a more political turn. However, what I have always respected the most about them is their talent and clear passion for music. Between them I think they play something like 15 instruments and they wrote or co-wrote every song on their new album, which critics acknowledge as their best yet.

Compared to the other two times I've seen them, this concert was more stripped down and focused on the music. There were no tricks or videos but there were six musicians joining them on stage. The sound really was awesome.

The most intense moment of the show came when they performed their new song "Not Ready to Make Nice," which is about the controversy surrounding Natalie's 2003 comment about Bush. (If you don't know what she said by now, I'm not telling you.) There is a strong crescendo in the song when she is singing about the death threats she received. Her energy and the crowds energy in response was so intense I got chills. I've never before felt emotion like that at a show. I must not have been the only one because there was thunderous applause for a solid 3-5 minutes after the song.

All in all, it was a great night. We even got to meet my good friend Reagan while in Philly. She's a complete trip and it's always nice to visit with her.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the shout-out.

I guess your seeing the Dixie Chicks is akin to me seeing Peyton Manning play football in a dome from 30 rows up in the end zone.

Chills from Natalie's Not Ready to Make Nice crescendo for you = Chills from Peyton jogging off the field approx 10 feet in front of me and smiling when I yelled "Good luck this season, Peyton! Good Luck Man!" for me :)