The Chicks plus support from Maren Morris

It has been a long while for her return to our shores. We saw her a few years ago at the O2 Academy, and she was just starting to break, and she was good, but the Maren on display tonight is a much more assured performer. Older, now a mother, and suffered from postpartum depression for over a year, she is now ready to take on all comers again, with a powerful performance of ten songs. Surprisingly singing only one track from her latest album ‘Hero’, she had a great reaction from the crowd, whom I suspect will be waiting for a headline tour from Maren Morris.

The same applies to The Chicks, as they are now known. It’s been a long, long while since they were here, and the crowd turned up ready for a good night and we lost count of the cowboy hats, all colours and tassels by the lorry load. Kicking straight off with the title track of their latest album, ‘Gaslighter’, which set the standard for tonight’s show, impeccable harmonies, catchy country crossover tunes, with most of the seated floor section on their/our feet dancing and moving, revelling in a band that seem to have not lost anything in the inactive years. Belting out nine from the new album, which mixed with the older classics well.

Throw in a trio of covers; Miley Cyrus’ Rainbowland, Patty Griffin’s ‘Don’t Let Me Die In Florida’, and of course ‘Landslide’ from Fleetwood Mac. Throw in some The Chicks classics; ‘Wide Open Spaces’, ‘Travelin Soldier’, ‘Not Ready To Make Nice’ and the brilliant ‘Goodbye Earl’. Combined with some clever back screen images – one which raised a large cheer, when a rowboat with Donald Trump and Putin sailed across the three different screens before sinking – The Chicks have never shied away from controversy, and they don’t seem to have changed.

How long before they return is anybody’s guess, but as we are going to see The Boss on Saturday, we will be getting another dose of The Chicks, lucky us.

Photos by Geoff Griffe
Review by Jenny Griffe