Dixie Chicks concert-aka the worst concert EVER

Ok-now that I have your attention w/ the title... 

This is not your run of the mill 'Oh Jaime & Shauna went to a concert AGAIN & sang, drank & danced a lot AGAIN & got into some sort of funny angst AGAIN.  

No, this is not one of those posts...

So I don't know what you loyal blog stalkers know about the Dixie Chicks but here's a history lesson for you:  They are a female country singing trio who play guitars, banjos, violins, etc & they were super popular back in the late 90's, early 2000's.  B-rad & I saw them in concert at Freedom Hall AND we saw them at the George Straight music festival in 1999 2 weeks before we got married.  

(Alicia you remember going with us, right? OH, what a picture!)

In 2003 the lead singer, Natalie Maines, made an insulting remark about President Bush at one of their concerts & pissed off the whole country.  Like people burned their cd's & radio stations wouldn't play their music & just like that overnight they were NOBODIES.  A few years later they came out w/ a song called 'Not Ready to Make Nice' (GEE way to be humble, ladies) & I think maybe they put out an album or 2 since then - WHO KNOWS?   

To get the whole story, no need to Google it - I've done the leg work for you & you can read ALL about it here.

I remember at the time not being happy w/ the Dixie Chicks about these remarks.  I mean-everyone has a right to their opinion for sure, but I don't really go to a country concert to hear their opinion.  I want them to sing their damn songs so we can sing & dance & go home... (I also think 'celebrities' have to live by a higher standard on stuff like that - they're in our homes & we spend our hard earned money to support THEM & I think a lot of times regular people idolize them & can be influenced by their opinions instead of forming their own.  OK-I digress - that's a whole other blog post...)

 I also liked President Bush (this was after September 11th of course & I think we had just invaded Iraq or Afghanistan or somewhere {which is what caused her rant} to find the terrorists that flew airplanes into our buildings & killed almost 3,000 people.)

MADNESS.

ANYWAY-we heard they were going back on tour & thought about going.  I mean-its been over 10 years since this happened - hasn't enough time passed?  Wouldn't it be fun to hear them sing their old songs that made them millions?  

YES, YES IT WOULD.

I looked at ticket prices-they were $129 a PIECE & we refused to pay that kind of money.  By the time they charge their bullshit fees you would be looking at $150/ticket - NO THANKS.  In my be it ever so humble opinion those girls were a bit too proud of themselves by asking that kind of money when they fell off the face of the Earth, haven't had a hit in maybe 10 years AND pissed off the whole country.  

How many concerts have when been to this year?  Carrie Underwood, Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Reba, Luke Bryan, Garth... & we've never paid that kind of money.  NEVER.  And those tickets were for artists who are relevant NOW-not 13 years ago.  Psssssh.

2 days before the concert I got an email from Ticketmaster that Dixie Chicks tickets were buy 2 for the price of 1.  That's a sale I can get behind.  I looked online & there were lots of seats left,  including seats on the floor.  Clearly the gals were having a hard time filling up the venue so I called Shauna to see if she wanted to go & just like that we got our tickets.

We didn't really care about the opening act (Elle King-more on her later) so after we ate dinner we headed to the Yum center.  Curiously we didn't get stuck in any traffic (in hindsight that should've been a sign...) so we just sat outside of the Yum center to talk & people watch before we decided to go in.

The concert started at 7:30 & we walked in around 8:00.  By the time we used the restroom & found our seats Elle King was getting ready to sing her last song.

YA'LL - this chick looked like a trashy trucker on drugs. 

YES I know that's mean - but I swear to you on all that is Good & Holy it's true.  Just the way she talked & carried herself for the 10.2 seconds we saw her we looked at each other like, 'What is UP w/ this chick?'  

 Finally it was time for the Dixie Chicks & when they came out of course everyone was excited.  They started by singing a song we didn't know.  I HATE when artists do that, but ok, ok - we've seen it done before.  The next one we'll know for SURE. 

Nope, didn't know the second song.

 When I tell you they sang like 4 songs before we knew one, I'm not kidding you.

 Many of the songs they sang were very slow & not able to be danced to so we sat.  YA'LL WE NEVER EVER SIT DOWN AT CONCERTS.  And that's when I started looking around (because I was bored out of my mind) at everyone else... lots of other people were sitting too..

Then I noticed that the very back, top section of Yum had NO tickets sold from it.  Like they had this curtain hanging blocking it off I'm assuming because not seats were sold from it.  Obviously we figured ticket sales were lacking when we got a '2 for the price of 1' email but this is bad ya'll.  I have never been to a concert at the Yum center where a whole section is blocked off (excluding of course where the view of the stage is blocked.)  The stage is not blocked from those seats, people.

 Finally they played a song we knew!  OH, HAPPY DAY.  'Goodbye, Earl' is a song about a man who beats his wife then her & her friend kill him -  I mean what's NOT to love?  In the video, notice the big screen behind them & the types of pictures that are scrolling on it... 

Many were like old time pics of men & women who didn't smile. I saw some pics of OJ & Chris Brown scroll by as well.  (Get it?  - men who 'allegedly' beat their wives/girlfriends?) & it's worth noting those pics were not altered in any way.  It was their pic on the screen for a moment & then it was gone.   Then suddenly there was a picture of Donald Trump on the screen with animated horns coming out of his head & a mustache drawn across his face. 

Really, Dixie Chicks?  REALLY?

Ok-so then I was really irritated.  Clearly they have NOT learned their lesson & that just makes me angry.  Ever tried a slice of humble pie Dixie Chicks??  They need a double batch!  The longer we sat there the more Shauna & I looked at each other like, 'what the hell are we doing here?'
They did a lot of cover songs too...Now, I'm not saying they were good covers or we even knew all the covers though.  I mean-they did a Beyonce song crying out loud.  Do NOT get me started on Beyonce...

 When we found our seats we didn't realize we were in the wrong section.  Some young(er) girls came up to their seats & turns out one of them is one of Shauna's babysitters.  They pointed out we were in the wrong section but we decided to stay there until the actual seat holders showed up, play stupid & then move.  Guess what?  Those rightful seat holders never showed up.  (You guessed it - another bad sign.)   This is how much those young(er) girls were enjoying the concert...

 Finally we had had enough.  At some point they left the stage & some stupid video of them racing cars w/ each other played while there was instrumental music in the background playing.  It was painful, people.  Once they came back out (to sing MORE sings we didn't know) I tried to be the optimist & give them 'one more song' before we bailed.  Shauna pulled up the set list & it was going to be like 2-3 more songs before one we recognized.  We said, 'NU UH' & we left.  Done.  Over.

We decided if we ever want to listen to Dixie Chicks songs we actually know it's best to not go to one of their concerts & just listen to them on our phones.  

 We played songs we knew the words to, sang along & didn't have to listen to any nonsense in between.  Perfection.

I'm fairly certain that all the people I saw on Facebook that went & said, 'Oh the Dixie Chicks are AWESOME' were at a different show than we were.  That's the only reasonable explanation.  I feel bad that I drug Shauna along to a horrible concert & that we paid money for a terrible show but on the bright side we have an epic story to tell...You can't put a price on that, people.