Dixie Chicks
Sunday April 17th 2016
Hallenstadion - Zürich, Switzerland

01 The Long Way Around
02 Lubbock or Leave It
03 Truth #2 (Patty Griffin cover)
04 Easy Silence
05 Favorite Year
06 Long Time Gone
07 Video Games (Lana Del Rey cover)
08 Top of the World (Patty Griffin cover)
09 Goodbye Earl
10 Racing Video
11 Travelin' Soldier (Bruce Robison cover)
12 Don't Let Me Die in Florida (Patty Griffin cover)
13 White Trash Wedding
14 instrumental-bluegrass medley
15 Ready to Run
16 Mississippi (Bob Dylan cover)
17 Happy Birthday Mindy
18 Landslide (Fleetwood Mac cover)
19 Silent House
20 I Like It
21 Cowboy Take Me Away
22 Wide Open Spaces
23 Sin Wagon
24 Encore Break
25 Not Ready to Make Nice
26 Better Way (Ben Harper cover)


Seeing a Band for the first time is always something special, but seeing the Dixie Chicks in Zürich this last Sunday was more than that, way more!

As a little background you can read this: http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/6813730/live-nation-dixie-chicks-tour-2016-behind-the-scenes

So the Dixie Chicks are back with their first *proper* tour in 10 years, and they start things of in Europe. The logic behind this is beyond me, but I don’t complain. Zürich was the 2nd stop on the tour and I think they expected to sell around 5000 tickets initially (the top 15 rows of seats all around the arena where all blocked off when the tickets first went on-sale). But in the end this show was almost a sell-out with some 10’000 fans showing up.

I guess as this tour is already a success in terms of ticket sales they came to Zurich with a full proper production. The only little problem was that the big main screen at the back (which is the most expensive part) was not working for the first half of the show. So what we got where the Dixie Chicks on a simple stage just playing some great tunes during the first half, then a little acoustic set and then the proper thing during the 2nd half.

The Dixie Chicks and their band can play. Musically this was one of the best performances I have seen in years, just quiet simply just stunning. While there where no big surprises in the setlist, the covers of Video Games by Lana Del Ray and Ben Harpers’ Better Way where great new(ish) additions in a performance that went from Country to Rock to Pop to Bluegrass and back with an ease you would not expect from a setlist with such different styles of music. But what made the night extra special was the warmth and charm of the three Dixie Chicks. They are not just some Chicks that can sing and play, they are three wonderful women with a mind they are not afraid of using and a very visible love for what they are doing. Quite scary for many I guess, but they blew me away with their pure honesty and I fell in love with them. Go out and see them when they come to a shed near you this summer, you will have a great time! And I sure hope they will soon come back to Switzerland sometime soon.

Enjoy this one, it’s a special one.

Technical note: The sound was flying over me during the first two songs so they are not up to the usual standard, but luckily I was able to move back a few rows and from then on it was very smooth sailing….

Source: Neumann KM140’s > Naiant Tinybox > Sony PCM M10