Fly Tour
Tour by Dixie Chicks
Associated albumFly
Start dateJune 1, 2000 (2000-06-01)
End dateDecember 3, 2000 (2000-12-03)
Legs4
No. of shows89 in North America
Dixie Chicks concert chronology

The Fly Tour (2000) was the debut North American concert tour by country music band The Chicks' (formerly the Dixie Chicks), performing sold-out shows in over 80 cities across Canada and the contiguous United States. The tour was primarily in-support of their sophomore album Fly (1999), as well as featuring songs from their debut album, Wide Open Spaces (1998). The Chicks would also feature several new or specially-selected songs at various stops on the tour, as well as an instrumental bluegrass “jam” piece titled “Roanoke”, alternating with another instrumental called simple “Brilliancy”.

History

Announced in mid-April 2000,[1] this was the Dixie Chicks' first headlining tour.[2][3] Moreover, the group was jumping directly to playing mostly in arenas.[1] Since the sudden jump in the group's success in 1998, they had played as a supporting act for Tim McGraw and as part of the George Strait Country Music Festival and Lilith Fair, seeking to expose themselves to diverse audiences in building a fan base.[2] The live reputation the group developed for their instrumental prowess and performance strengths[4] led to them embarking upon an ambitious, high-profile, large-venue tour of their own.[3]

Begun at the start of June 2000 with five dates in Canada, and with occasional two-week breaks in between legs, the tour was originally scheduled to end in September. However, after having grossed over $25 million for about 50 dates,[2] and averaging about 13,000 fans per show,[2] it was extended until early December,[2] when it concluded with four dates in the Chicks' native Texas.

In terms of commercial impact, LiveDaily termed the tour "a runaway success",[2] and it came at a time when the country music genre was in a box-office slump.[1][3] It represented an innovation in a business sense, as three different promoters were used, covering different geographical regions of the country, rather than the more typical use of a different local promoter at each stop.[3] Chicks management did this in order to get more consistent messaging in marketing and promotion, which itself was aided by an over $3 million national advertising campaign.[3] The comically themed commercials showed the Chicks as touring neophytes, learning how to smash banjos and tear up hotel rooms.[1] Tour sponsors were MusicCountry.com and CMT, while one dollar of each ticket sale was donated to the World Wildlife Fund.[1]

In the end, the Fly Tour grossed over $47 million,[5] with an average attendance of over 12,000.[6] It was the biggest country music tour in 2000 by any single act[4] (trailing only the joint Tim McGraw–Faith Hill Soul2Soul Tour)[7] and the sixth highest-grossing tour of any genre during the year.[5]

For 2000, the tour was nominated for Pollstar's most important award, that of Major Tour of the Year, but lost out to the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Reunion Tour.[8] It did however win Pollstar's Personal Manager of the Year award for the group's manager, Simon Renshaw,[8] who had negotiated the unusual promotion arrangements.[3]

The tour also had a cultural effect: the Encyclopedia of the Great Plains stated that the Fly Tour "gained a life of its own, making the Dixie Chicks a pop-cultural phenomenon, with young and enthusiastic audiences flocking" to see the group.[9]

The show

The shows themselves attracted both parents and their children.[4][10] In particular, young girls could be seen dressing as their favorite member of the trio.[4] Slogans such as "Chicks Rule!" and "Chicks Kick Ass!" were prevalent during the tour.[4][11]

Production values were emphasized for the show, with eight trucks required to haul it.[3] A six-man band backed the three Chicks.[11] Stage and show design involved members of the Cirque du Soleil team,[3] including lighting designer Luc Lafortune.[1] The stage was surrounded by a curtain that resembled a pair of jeans, complete with a working zipper.[12] Various interactive pre-show activities kept the audience busy,[12] as a huge remote-controlled mechanical fly circled over the audience.[13] Then the show began, by the zipper dropping and the curtain falling away.[11]

The Dixie Chicks' generally performed for about an hour and a half.[11] The themes of the show veered between love songs and declarations of female independence, with the opener "Ready to Run" and the climactic "Goodbye Earl" both exemplifying the latter.[14] Video screens would sometimes show the music videos that went with a song, and other times would show humorous interludes, such as the trio's own fashion disasters from the past.[14] Other stage effects included a night full of stars with a setting moon for "Cowboy Take Me Away", and bubbles representing snow falling from the rafters for "Cold Day in July".[12] The main set generally finished with what would become a furious concert staple of theirs, "Sin Wagon"; for the encores, "Goodbye Earl" – the song of the moment for Chicks fans[13] – was often performed with the three Chicks spread out among the audience in different corners of the venue,[11][12] while "Wide Open Spaces" was the occasion for a mass sing-along.[11]

By the later stages of the tour, lead singer Natalie Maines was visibly pregnant with her first child,[15] and was able to rest during the middle section of the show, which featured the trio performing numbers such as Sheryl Crow's "Strong Enough" while sitting on a couch.[12][13]

Critical reaction to the Fly Tour shows was generally positive. The New York Times called it "a slick, good-natured show that seesawed between clinging love songs and declarations of female independence."[14] Rolling Stone said that while the group "can pop and rock with conviction", at other times the show represented "stone-cold, hard-core honky tonk at its best", and that the youthful audience's roars of approval for the sisters' instrumental virtuosity – which it compared to those Eddie Van Halen got for guitar solos – was "damn near revolutionary".[11] Rolling Stone did criticize the "overly ambitious stage and lighting design" for detracting from the on-stage intimacy between the three group members and their backing band,[11] while The University News praised it, saying the show "appealed to the eyes with its unique stage and interesting special effects."[12] The Daily Universe's reviewer called the group "the most exciting country-and-western group I have ever seen,"[16] while KAOS2000 magazine said "this trio of hotties know how to put on a show and definitely had control of the big arena stage."[15] A Citysearch.com writer said that Maines' voice was not the strongest in performance, but benefited from the joint strength when combined with the sisters'.[13]

Broadcasts and recordings

The August shows at Washington, D.C.'s MCI Center were filmed and used as the basis for an NBC network special called, "Dixie Chicks: On the Fly". The special aired November 20, 2000.[17]

Opening acts

Setlist

  1. "Ready to Run"
  2. "There's Your Trouble"
  3. "Hello Mr. Heartache"
  4. "Don't Waste Your Heart"
  5. "Without You"
  6. "If I Fall You're Going Down with Me"
  7. "I Can Love You Better"
  8. "You Were Mine"
  9. "Give It Up or Let Me Go"
  10. "Video Sequence"
  11. "Let Him Fly"
  12. "Heartbreak Town"
  13. "Strong Enough"
  14. "Brilliancy" (and/or "Roanoke" with a snippet of "Dixie Chicken")
  15. "Let 'Er Rip"
  16. "Tonight the Heartache's on Me"
  17. "Cold Day in July"
  18. "Some Days You Gotta Dance"
  19. "Cowboy Take Me Away"
  20. "Sin Wagon"
Encore
  1. "Goodbye Earl"
  2. "Wide Open Spaces"

There were some minor changes to this order depending on the venue and the opening act. "Am I the Only One (Who's Ever Felt This Way)", "Loving Arms", "Truth No.2", and "Merry Christmas From the Family" were also played during the tour.

Tour dates

Date City Country Venue Tickets Sold / Available Revenue
North America[1][2][19]
June 1, 2000 Winnipeg Canada Winnipeg Arena
June 2, 2000 Saskatoon Saskatchewan Place
June 3, 2000 Edmonton Skyreach Centre
June 4, 2000 Calgary Pengrowth Saddledome
June 8, 2000 Vancouver General Motors Place
June 9, 2000 Spokane United States Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
June 10, 2000 Tacoma Tacoma Dome 20,018 / 20,018 $777,632
June 11, 2000 Portland Rose Garden Arena 15,636 / 15,636 $607,184
June 15, 2000 Sacramento ARCO Arena
June 16, 2000 San Jose San Jose Arena
June 17, 2000 Anaheim Arrowhead Pond
June 18, 2000 Phoenix America West Arena
June 19, 2000 Anaheim Arrowhead Pond
June 22, 2000 San Diego Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl
June 23, 2000 Las Vegas Thomas & Mack Center
June 24, 2000 Salt Lake City Delta Center
June 25, 2000 Nampa Idaho Center Arena
June 29, 2000 North Little Rock Alltel Arena
June 30, 2000 Lafayette Cajundome
July 1, 2000 Biloxi Mississippi Coast Coliseum
July 13, 2000 Chicago United Center
July 14, 2000 Milwaukee Bradley Center
July 15, 2000 Minneapolis Target Center
July 16, 2000 Fargo Fargodome
July 19, 2000 New York City Radio City Music Hall
July 20, 2000
July 21, 2000 Albany Pepsi Arena
July 22, 2000 Worcester Worcester's Centrum Centre
July 23, 2000 Buffalo HSBC Arena
August 3, 2000 Denver Pepsi Center
August 4, 2000 Kansas City Kemper Arena 14,426 / 14,426 $557,078
August 5, 2000 Oklahoma City Myriad Convention Center Arena
August 6, 2000 Lubbock United Spirit Arena
August 10, 2000 Dallas Reunion Arena 27,456 / 27,456 $1,063,847
August 11, 2000
August 12, 2000 Austin Frank Erwin Center
August 13, 2000 Houston Compaq Center
August 17, 2000 Louisville Freedom Hall 15,974 / 15,974 $629,952
August 18, 2000 Auburn Hills The Palace of Auburn Hills
August 19, 2000
August 20, 2000 Toronto Canada Air Canada Centre
August 24, 2000 Washington, D.C. United States MCI Center
August 25, 2000
August 26, 2000 Winston-Salem Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum
August 27, 2000 Atlanta Philips Arena
September 7, 2000 Hampton Hampton Coliseum
September 8, 2000 Charlotte Charlotte Coliseum 15,271 / 15,271 $656,175
September 9, 2000 Nashville Gaylord Entertainment Center 15,285 / 15,285 $692,630
September 10, 2000 Birmingham BJCC Arena
September 14, 2000 Richmond Richmond Coliseum
September 15, 2000 Raleigh Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena
September 16, 2000 Roanoke Roanoke Civic Center
September 17, 2000 Nashville Gaylord Entertainment Center
September 28, 2000 Sunrise National Car Rental Center
September 29, 2000 Tampa Ice Palace 13,480 / 16,286 $646,540
September 30, 2000 Orlando TD Waterhouse Centre
October 1, 2000 Jacksonville Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum
October 6, 2000 Moline MARK of the Quad Cities
October 7, 2000 Ames Hilton Coliseum 11,521 / 11,521 $546,939
October 8, 2000 Lincoln Bob Devaney Sports Center
October 10, 2000 Valley Center Britt Brown Arena
October 12, 2000 Columbus Value City Arena
October 13, 2000 University Park Bryce Jordan Center
October 14, 2000 Philadelphia First Union Spectrum 13,645 / 13,645 $648,826
October 15, 2000 Pittsburgh Mellon Arena
October 19, 2000 Cincinnati Firstar Center
October 20, 2000 Knoxville Thompson–Boling Arena 14,647 / 14,647 $611,929
October 21, 2000 Charleston Charleston Civic Center
October 22, 2000 Indianapolis Conseco Fieldhouse 14,698 / 14,698 $666,817
October 26, 2000 Champaign Assembly Hall
October 27, 2000 St. Louis Savvis Center
October 28, 2000 Memphis Pyramid Arena
October 29, 2000 New Orleans New Orleans Arena
November 9, 2000 Lexington Rupp Arena
November 10, 2000 Cleveland Gund Arena 16,639 / 16,639 $794,331
November 12, 2000 Chicago United Center
November 13, 2000 Saint Paul Xcel Energy Center
November 16, 2000 Manhattan Bramlage Coliseum
November 17, 2000 Denver Pepsi Center
November 19, 2000 Phoenix America West Arena
November 20, 2000 San Diego Cox Arena at Aztec Bowl
November 21, 2000 Los Angeles Staples Center
November 26, 2000 Oakland The Arena in Oakland
November 27, 2000 Bakersfield Bakersfield Centennial Garden
November 30, 2000 San Antonio Alamodome 15,152 / 15,152 $673,706
December 1, 2000 Houston Compaq Center
December 2, 2000 College Station Reed Arena 9,872 / 9,872 $365,264
December 3, 2000 Fort Worth Tarrant County Convention Center Arena 12,268 / 12,268 $587,489
Cancellations and rescheduled shows
June 12, 2000 Nashville, Tennessee Tennessee State Fairgrounds Cancelled. Concert was originally a part of the Fan Fair
August 19, 2000 Toronto Air Canada Centre Rescheduled to August 20, 2000
August 20, 2000 Grand Rapids, Michigan Van Andel Arena Cancelled
August 24, 2000 Philadelphia First Union Center Cancelled
September 9, 2000 Greenville, South Carolina BI-LO Center Cancelled
October 23, 2000 Evansville, Indiana Roberts Municipal Stadium Cancelled

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Evans, Rob (April 13, 2000). "Dixie Chicks Step Up To Headliner Status". LiveDaily. Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on July 26, 2010. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Evans, Rob (September 26, 2000). "Dixie Chicks to keep Fly tour alive into December". LiveDaily. Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Gray, Michael (April 14, 2000). "Dates Confirmed for "The Dixie Chicks Fly Tour"". CMT News. MTV Networks. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Dixie Chicks on Saturday Night Country". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 2000-09-26. Retrieved 2008-10-22.
  5. 1 2 Hiatt, Brian (December 28, 2000). "Tina Turner, 'NSYNC Had Year's Top-Grossing Tours". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 "Historical Dixie Chicks". Dixie Chicks Official Website. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  7. ↑ Dickerson, James L. (2001). Faith Hill: Piece of My Heart. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-28195-1. pp. 139–140.
  8. 1 2 "Pollstar Concert Industry Awards Winners Archives – 2000". Pollstar. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  9. ↑ David J. Wishart, ed. (2004). "Dixie Chicks". Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4787-7. p. 537.
  10. ↑ Kaufman, Leslie (2000-08-06). "Take Me Out To the Rock Fest". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Skanse, Richard (July 21, 2000). "Live Review: The Dixie Chicks Take Manhattan". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on October 13, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Dohrman, Rebecca (2000-11-02). "Dixie Chicks Let It Snow At Savvis". The University News. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Glasen, Holly (June 18, 2000). "Review: Dixie Chicks At ARCO Arena, Sacramento, California". LiveDaily. Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. Archived from the original on August 16, 2000. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  14. 1 2 3 Pareles, Jon (2000-07-24). "If Your Man Treats You Bad, It's Great to Break Loose but Even Better to Get Even". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  15. 1 2 Anderson, Philip (2000). "Concert Review: Dixie Chicks 11/26/00". KAOS2000. Retrieved 2006-03-25.
  16. ↑ Merrill, Clay (2000-06-27). "The Dixie Chicks in Salt Lake City" (fee required). The Daily Universe.
  17. ↑ Mason, Dave (November 20, 2000). "Dixie Chicks do the tube". The Daily News. Vol. 146, no. 323. Bowling Green, Kentucky: News Publishing, LLC. p. 3B. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  18. ↑ Davis, John (August 7, 2000). "Chicks fly high for home crowd". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Morris Communications. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  19. ↑ Flippo, Chet (April 14, 2000). "Dixie Chicks Gear Up For Massive Road Trip". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
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