Chicks mix humor, politics, music (CONCERT REVIEW )

[a kennedy]

A documentary about the Dixie Chicks will premiere next month at the Toronto Film Festival. It's called "Shut Up and Sing." That should be the motto for the blockbuster country trio's current, surprisingly slow-selling Accidents and Accusations Tour.

But the Chicks couldn't resist. On Friday night before 11,300 fans at Target Center, the Texas trio mixed a little politics, some welcome humor, lots of splendid music and -- yes -- some terrific singing into a good but not great concert.

The two-hour, 22-song performance lacked the edge, the spark and the wow-inducing visuals of the Chicks' two sold-out 2003 in-the-round concerts in St. Paul -- which rank among the best arena shows I've seen in this decade.

Like a Vikings player aware of a new code of discipline, lead singer Natalie Maines -- the one who started the trouble by dissing President Bush at a London concert in 2003 -- seemed a tad careful in front of a worshipful audience in a historically blue state. After making one duh-inducing joke about the president (something about they had to hold his plane so he could drink his Gatorade), she said, "We're here to do some songs" and not jokes about the president.

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