Twenty years after Taking the Long Way won five Grammy Awards, The Chicks have never once played it front to back on a stage. Sunday night in San Antonio, that changes.
About the Show
Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire, and Emily Strayer bring their Taking the Long Way 20th Anniversary Tour to the Majestic Theatre for the second of two consecutive nights, performing the 2006 album in its entirety live for the first time. The trio, who changed their name from the Dixie Chicks to The Chicks in 2020, are originally from Dallas. They have sold over 30.5 million albums, making them the biggest-selling U.S. female band of all time.
Taking the Long Way arrived three years after the controversy: Maines’ 2003 comments criticizing President George W. Bush and the Iraq War sent radio stations pulling their music and fans destroying CDs. The Chicks channeled it into an album. They went to work with Rick Rubin, co-writing every track alongside collaborators including Sheryl Crow, Neil Finn, and Tom Petty’s Mike Campbell. Rubin described his production philosophy for the record: “I think this should sound like a great rock act making a country album, not a country act making a rock album.” The result went double platinum in its first year.
“Not Ready to Make Nice” became the first country Song of the Year at the Grammys since Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind” in 1983 and the first Record of the Year win by any country act. Rolling Stone later placed it on its list of the 100 best songs of the 2000s. Emily Strayer, reflecting ahead of this tour, said the songs surprised her on re-listen: “I was surprised how relevant they still seemed and how universal they still seemed even though they were such personal stories.” Maines put it plainly: “This album in particular is what I think fans would say is the most recognized time in our career.”
No support acts have been announced.
Venue & Logistics
The Majestic Theatre sits on East Houston Street in downtown San Antonio, a city Emily Strayer calls home. The 2,264-seat theater is a deliberate step down from arenas, fitting for a 16-date theater run built around performing a single album start to finish. Doors open at 7 p.m. San Antonio is one of two Texas stops on this tour, alongside Austin.
Tickets
This show sold out through the primary ticketer; resale tickets are available through StubHub and SeatGeek. No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. Buy tickets