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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Huw Baines

The Chicks review – barn-burning virtuosity and cut-glass vocals

‘Outlandish musicianship’ … Emily Strayer and Natalie Maines of the Chicks perform at Cardiff Castle, 27 June 2023.
‘Outlandish musicianship’ … Emily Strayer and Natalie Maines of the Chicks perform at Cardiff Castle, 27 June 2023. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images

The clouds make good on their promise as the Chicks embark on the unapologetic Not Ready to Make Nice, but the rain isn’t a match for Natalie Maines, Emily Strayer and Martie Maguire in three-part harmony. The pop-country icons are locked in all night, skipping around technical difficulties and swirling wind with grit, humour and outlandish musicianship.

They emerge after a blast of Joan Jett’s Bad Reputation, its sentiment pointed given the long shadow cast by the Chicks (they cut the “Dixie” in 2020 due to the term’s ties to the Confederate south) being ostracised from the country establishment two decades ago after coming out against George W Bush and the Iraq war.

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