‘I just can’t pull it off.’ The Chicks cut show short after Natalie Maines voice issues
The Chicks have famously been silenced before, but Sunday night in Indiana it was literal.
The country superstar group from Texas was forced to cut short its show after about 30 minutes because lead singer Natalie Maines was having voice issues.
The Chicks apologized to the Noblesville, Indiana, crowd after five songs when it was clear to Maines that her throat was not going to make it through a full show.
It was the fourth stop on their 33-date tour, which is scheduled to end at the Austin City Limits Festival on Oct. 14.
In a video posted by a fan from the performance, Maines told the crowd that their tickets would be honored at a rescheduled show in the Indianapolis suburb.
“I’m going to try one more song,” Maines told the crowd before apologizing. “[I’m] waiting for this shot to kick in. Not a shot of alcohol, it was a shot of steroids. I’m so sorry. I just can’t pull it off.”
Fans will be contacted about a makeup date through their original point of purchase. The rescheduled show is already listed on The Ticketmaster website with a TBA (to be announced) show listed for Indianapolis after the band’s last scheduled show in Austin.
“Indianapolis, we are so sorry we could not give you the show you deserve OR the show we wanted to give you,” the band said in a message posted on social media. “We will be back Indianapolis!! Hold on to your tickets.”
The band, which was previously called the Dixie Chicks, played a full set Friday at Bonnaroo in Tennessee and is scheduled to play Cincinnati on Tuesday. They made it through “Sin Wagon,” “Gaslighter,” “Texas Man,” “Julianna Calm Down,” and “The Long Way Around” Sunday before leaving the stage.
In 2003, the band received death threats and massive backlash after Maines told a London audience that she was ashamed former President George W. Bush was from Texas and that she disagreed with the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In the wake of her comments, thousands of country radio stations blacklisted the band’s music.
Fans were forgiving on social media Sunday, however, including many thanking the trio for trying to power through their set.
This story was originally published June 20, 2022 at 3:00 PM.
