Article Contributed by Gabriel David Barkin
Published on 2026-10-30
The Chicks | The Masonic in San Francisco | October 29th, 2026 - photos by Gabriel David Barkin
The Chicks came a long way from Texas to visit the Masonic in San Francisco on Thursday evening. Their appearance was part of a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Taking the Long Way (TTLW), The Chicks’ multi-platinum 2006 record. TTLW is certainly worth celebrating, a tour de force album written in the wake of an unsettling assault on free speech from right-wing circles in heartland America.
The trio collectively known as The Chicks took the country world by storm in the late ’90s and early aughts after singer Natalie Maines joined forces with sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer. They were riding high in 2003 on tour promoting their second #1 record on the Billboard 200, Home, when Maines told a London crowd she was “ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.” This was nine days before President George W. Bush launched an attack on Iraq based on false pretenses, anti-Islamic bigotry, and jingoistic hubris.
The backlash was quick and cutting. Country radio stations in deep-red communities across the U.S. stopped playing The Chicks’ music. Fox News pundits exploded with rage. Maines received death threats. (The FBI even investigated one very specific threat that named the concert where she would be shot and specified the weapon that would be used.)
Maines and her bandmates never backed down, even though the experience was (to put it mildly) unsettling. If anything, they’ve leaned into their convictions. The evening in San Francisco included exhortations to vote, a declaration that they’re still ashamed Bush is from Texas, and a strongly worded denunciation of Donald Trump. Visiting the new Obama Presidential Center in Chicago recently gave them “an iota of hope.”
It should be noted here that the band dropped the word “Dixie” from their name in 2020, about a month after George Floyd was murdered by a police officer and while protests and the wider reckoning over Confederate symbols were at their height. (Before announcing the change, the trio contacted a New Zealand duo with the same name and courteously worked out a sharing agreement.)
The Chicks played two sets at the Masonic, beginning with a cut-by-cut performance of the entire TTLW album. Strayer, Maines, and Maguire sat in chairs on an elevated riser throughout the first set. They spoke often between songs about the experience of being pilloried, censored – and in some cases, rejected and shunned by people in their own orbit. They also spoke warmly of the support they received.
Video on a curtain behind the stage played scenes from documentary footage filmed during the recording of TTLW, and also snippets of Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly losing their shit on Fox News. News footage shown from the era also included a mother holding her baby and encouraging the child to chant “screw ’em” at The Chicks. Strayer told the audience on Thursday that mother later called to apologize.
Strayer also said that “I didn’t get near as many Christmas cards that year.” Maguire reflected on the film clips of The Chicks: “When I look at our young faces, we look so terrified.”
The Chicks didn’t look terrified on Thursday. They looked and sounded confident and strong. It’s a good bet that their mailbox is jampacked with Christmas cards these days. Oh, and for the record, TTLW debuted at #1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top Country Albums charts in 2006 and won five Grammys.
The crowd was already on their feet when Maines sang “Not Ready to Make Nice” (the third track from TTLW), which directly confronts the vitriol. Maines was hardly the only person in the house to sing the bridge written in response to the “screw ’em” episode:
It's a sad, sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter, sayin' that I better
Shut up and sing or my life will be over
Maines alternated between guitar and tambourine throughout the night, including some electric guitar in the second set. Her voice was impeccable, as were the harmonies from the sisters flanking her on the stage. Maguire added her trademark fiddle melodies and also played mandolin. Strayer switched back and forth between guitars and banjo. A six-piece band (do we call them “The Dudes”?) backed The Chicks admirably with the usual assortment of country-rock instruments.
For those looking for a (not always inevitable) extended Grateful Dead family connection, there was a John Mayer cameo in one of the documentary clips. The Chicks recounted how they’d wanted Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash for a song or two on TTLW, but Slash wanted a lot of money. Mayer was next on the list. “Can you come do a Slash ‘go up to the mountain top’ solo? And he said absolutely. We didn’t even buy him coffee.” One of the tracks he contributed to was the powerful, emotional “Baby Hold On.” (No, he wasn’t in the house on Thursday, but there he was up on the video screen.)
Out in the audience there were wide-brimmed hats, long blond hair and cowboy boots aplenty. The gender ratio was probably two-to-one female over male (if appearance stereotypes can be used to measure – this is San Francisco after all). Ninety percent of the attendees seemed to know every word of every song, and they weren’t shy about chiming in.
The TTLW set ended with the album’s last cut. “I Hope” is a rousing gospel number that turned the Masonic audience into a church choir before a blissfully short intermission. The Chicks finally stood up during this song, closing the TTLW retrospective with an inspirational and positive message.
The second set was a greatest hits retrospective. The Chicks stood now at the front of the stage delivering a string of crowd faves, including “Wide Open Spaces,” the cowgirl anthem “Cowboy Take Me Away,” and a cover of Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide” (which appeared on Home). They also played a version of Beyoncé’s “Daddy Lessons.” There was just one song from Gaslighter (2020), the only record of new songs released by The Chicks since TTLW. The title track they played has bitter post-divorce lyrics (based on Maines’ own marriage) that clearly resonated with many members of the audience.
The energy kicked up several notches for the shit-kickin’ “White Trash Wedding” and later again for the last song “Sin Wagon.” By the time Maines crooned “I’ll fly away,” it was clear that the long way home is the best way to go.
