DIXIE CHICKS

Not since the Garth Brooks phenomenon swept through town, has Sydney seen a crowd this excited. The Dixie Chicks, the world's top-selling Country group, blitzed the Capitol Theatre with their high energy concert. They are loud, brash, fun and most of all, stone COUNTRY. No pop music hiding behind a token pedal steel guitar. No rock and roll standing in front of a cactus stage prop. This is the real deal. Three Country girls playing bluegrass banjo, dobro and fiddle, and harmonising like angels.

The crowd, predominantly young Country fans, showed their love of the genre by starting the night with a rousing welcome for local opening act Troy Cassar-Daley. In a town that is notorious for its usual apathy towards support acts, this audience was the opposite. They sang along with everything from Troy's current Country number one single, 'They Don't Make 'Em Like That Anymore', to his musical tribute to Slim Dusty.

Then the Dixie Chicks burst onto the stage, showing the form that has won them every award going, from two Grammys to their recent triple win at this year's CMA Awards. With solid backing by five tasteful musicians, the Chicks, Natalie Maines, Martie Seidel and Emily Robison, shone brightly with their instrumental prowess and three-part harmonies. Natalie singing, stomping the stage and twirling like a Whirling Dervish, while sisters Martie and Emily picked and bowed up a storm.

The Dixie Chicks' first album 'Wide Open Spaces' has become the biggest selling album ever by a country duo or group - racking up some 6 million sales. Their second album, Fly, looks like following suit with the success of its first single 'Ready To Run' which was featured on the soundtrack of the film 'Runaway Bride'. Promoters Frontier Touring and CMT are to be applauded for bringing such a hot act to our shores. Country Music needs to appeal to a younger audience to survive, and its future looks safe in the hands of The Dixie Chicks.

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