The Chicks Recall ‘the Incident’ and Compare Bush to Trump in ‘Taking the Long Way’ 20th Anniversary Shows at L.A.’s Dolby: Concert Review — SkimNews
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- The Chicks performed all 14 songs from Taking the Long Way in the original running order for the first two-thirds of their anniversary shows, with Maines, Maguire and Strayer offering commentary and documentary clips before a greatest-hits set.
- Natalie Maines said she would now give George W. Bush “a big kiss” and derided Trump, turning the band’s 2003 controversy into an election-week comparison that drew a roaring response from the 3,400-person Dolby crowd.
- White House spokesperson Davis Ingle responded on Oct. 15 to Maines’s earlier tour remarks, calling her a “despicable nobody” suffering from a “severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
- Taking the Long Way won five Grammys, including a sweep of album, record and song of the year; the concert review still ranked it behind only Home but concluded that it stands as a “superior collection of music.”
- Dan Wilson, who co-wrote six album songs, proposed an apology song after the controversy, but the band rejected the idea and wrote “Not Ready to Make Nice”; Emily Strayer said they landed on anger and did not expect the song to become an anthem for everyone.
- Baby Hold On had apparently never been performed live before this tour; 10 album tracks had not appeared in concert for at least a decade, including “Voice Inside My Head,” which had apparently been performed live only once.
- The Bitter End’s final verse was confirmed by the band as describing their immediate 2003 estrangement from the country establishment, including label executives, radio programmers and fellow country stars.
Why it matters: For the 3,400 fans at the Dolby Theatre, the anniversary expanded the live experience: 10 tracks absent for at least a decade returned, including one never previously performed, while commentary tied the band’s 2003 estrangement from country radio programmers and label executives to the songs. The political comparison drew the loudest reaction, but the show’s substance was a full-album restoration.
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