The Dixie Chicks Top of the World Tour landed in Las Vegas for two nights. I opted to go to the second show rather than the first, and was lucky enough to get a really good seat in the lower level, 6th row.
Music videos played on the four screens at the top center part of the arena, around the scoreboard. A few country artists, but mostly pop and rock artists. The whole time the CMT logo was shown in the lower right corner, like we were watching the station. And every so often it would announce it was "Chicks Music Television." Some of the artists were Keith Urban, Charlie Robison, Sheryl Crow, Avril Lavigne, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The stage itself took up a good portion of the floor with various levels of risers, and two walkways on opposite ends of the stage. Down from the main stage was an opening, and then a semi-circular walkway on the two sides without the walkways. Before the show, hundreds of female fans were ushered into those openings around the stage, what were referred to as "Chicken Coops." These were fans without tickets who were chosen from outside the arena.
Prior to the Chicks taking the stage, opening act Michelle Branch performed. I'm not into pop music, so I don't know any of her songs, and I wasn't impressed. She also played to only one side of the arena.. the opposite side from where I was sitting. And, it's not like she didn't know there were fans on the other side as she DID come over to the other side for ONE song, then went right back to the other side. Totally forgettable performance if you ask me. I was told by a friend who attended a different show that she did the same thing at that venue.
I believe there was a 20 minute intermission as everything was pretty much set up, basically. A large circular curtain surrounded the upper stage and was backlit from inside.
Soon we heard Bruce Springsteen singing "Born in the USA," and shortly after that the curtain went up and the Chicks rose from underneath the center of the stage. First song was "Goodbye Earl."
From there they went into "Some Days You Gotta Dance," and "There's Your Trouble." Natalie asked how many people were drinking, and if we were ready to have a good time.
The Chicks worked all areas of the stage, from the walkways on the side, to the runways around the "coops" where the fans were standing below, and of course, the main stage in the center, stopping at times to shake hands. Sometimes Emily would be on one side, Natalie in the center section and Martie on the other side.
I had seen the Chicks one other time, back in 1999, and they were just as good as they were back then. These girls are such accomplished instrumentalists, and Natalie's voice perfect for their music. They're a joy to watch perform.
They didn't talk overly much, but Martie noticed a guy that had come to many of their shows all over the country and pointed him out. She said at first she thought Kenny Rogers was in the audience, as the man looked quite a bit like Kenny, and that he'd been to at least 20 of their shows, and how much they loved fans like him. She then said, "Next show is on me."
Later in the show, after singing "A Home," Natalie mentioned that they had joined up with the Rock The Vote campaign to help get more women to register to vote. She said that "voting is a nice safe way of voicing your opinion." From that they went into "Truth No. 2." During the song videos of people protesting various causes were shown on the four large video screens. They also showed footage of people destroying rock records, such as the Beatles, and then footage of people destroying the Chicks CDs. At the end the screen prompted "Seek The Truth."
