The band played a short but impressive set before Tim McGraw last time they came to town, but this year the juggernaut explosion called the Dixie Chicks had turned the three country bumpkins into bona fide country rock stars.
Lead singer Natalie Maines, fiddler Martie Seidel and banjoist Emily Robison took a Salt Lake audience on a wild, roller-coaster ride Saturday, with a lot of fun, stage banter in between.
With mega-selling albums like "Wide Open Spaces and "Fly," the Chicks have become trend-setters in the music business over the past few years — crossing boundaries and winning handfuls of Grammys and other major awards in the process.
Before the show at the Delta Center, a lone floating air balloon shaped as a fly came out and dropped a few presents on the sold-out audience. Then the Chicks came through the curtain, which was a pair of jeans with a huge "Fly" zipper on it.
They played, fittingly, "Ready to Run" from album "Fly."
"Does anyone notice anything different about Natalie?" Seidel asked the screaming audience. "She got hitched last night in Vegas!"
But the announcement wasn't the only thing that was big and fun. There was the slide show. The Chicks presented a slide show and roasted themselves in front of the audience, especially when the picture of Maines' huge "mall bangs"
showed up.
"We're here to tell you that mall bangs are over and out," Seidel said.
The other two stepped in and said, "We're here to say that we've all been ugly at one time or another. And if you still are, there is hope."
Opening guest Patty Griffin also came on stage to sing with the Chicks on "Let It Fly."
Then Maines announced the group would sing its favorite song on tour.
The audience erupted, but soon sat down when the tune "Heartbreak Town" began, instead of "Goodbye, Earl."
But all wasn't lost. The girls did sing "Earl" and "Wide Open Spaces" during the encore. During "Earl," they ran to the back of the Delta Center and sang to the crowd, which mainly consisted of women and Utah Jazz center Greg Ostertag.
Before that the Chicks went into Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough." And Seidel and Robison electrified the audience with a fiery, bluegrass-picking jam.
"Tonight, the Heartache's on Me" and "Cold Day in July" were also part of the evening, as was "Cowboy Take Me Away," "Ready to Run" and "If I Fall, You're Going Down with Me" and "I Can Love You Better"
Not once did the music seem improvised. All the songs were played with precision through a studio-quality mix. And that's exactly what the fans wanted.
E-MAIL: lu@desnews.com