Dixie Chicks' concert sales fail to take wing
Updated 6/8/2006 9:42 PM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this


Enlarge By Dima Gavrysh, AP

While the Dixie Chicks roost atop the album-sales charts for a second week, plans for the trio's North American Accidents & Accusations Tour, set to begin July 21 in Detroit, suddenly are up in the air.




By Brian Mansfield, Special for USA TODAY
Buying a Dixie Chicks CD, that's one thing. Buying a concert ticket, that's another matter — at least in some places.
While the Dixie Chicks roost atop the album-sales charts for a second week, plans for the trio's North American Accidents & Accusations Tour, set to begin July 21 in Detroit, suddenly are up in the air. "There is a reshuffling of the tour based on market sales," spokeswoman Kathy Best says.

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Shows announced for St. Louis, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis and Memphis have been pulled from the schedule. The public on-sale date for a September show in Houston has been canceled as well.

A message on the website for St. Louis' Savvis Center reads, "Due to the overwhelming demand for the Dixie Chicks in Canada, England and Australia, this concert date must be rerouted and the on-sale date will be postponed until the fall."

Sales for fall shows are strong in Canada, where the band hasn't been subjected to a three-year political firestorm and a battle with onetime fans. A concert at Toronto's 19,000-seat Air Canada Center sold out in eight minutes, prompting the addition of a second date.

Not every U.S. show is having trouble selling: The best available pair of tickets Thursday to the August 18 Minneapolis show were for limited-view, upper-level seats. But demand isn't coming close to the Chicks' 2003 tour, which sold more than 860,000 tickets in its first weekend and ultimately earned $62 million, the year's top-grossing country tour.

The band's new album continues to sell well. After selling 526,000 units its first week out, Taking the Long Way sold 271,000 copies last week.

The "reshuffling" on the Chicks' tour hasn't been finished. Neither the Chicks' manager, Simon Renshaw, nor their booking agent, Rob Light, could be reached for comment. Short of postponing the entire U.S. tour, the group could choose to leave some cities off the tour, move underperforming dates to smaller venues or reconfigure seating at arenas to theater-like settings.

"A couple years ago, Mariah Carey announced a big arena tour, and it didn't (sell) very well," Billboard's Ray Waddell says. "The next thing you know, she wanted to provide an 'intimate experience' in theaters." Posted 6/8/2006 9:22 PM ET
Updated 6/8/2006 9:42 PM ET

I have faith that they'll come out alright. Even in the midst of the persecution they faced with the Bush comment they still did okay with the Top of The World Tour.

And one thing they have in their arsenal that a lot of other country acts don't is that they have a huge international following. Not so much because of Bush, but because of the women's issues angle, as well as their musical proficiency . They had those audeiences long before the comments about the President and always sold out their venues. This time around I think they'll sell out bigger venues with all of the hype surrounding the scandals, beefs etc and will acquire new fans (still mostly female, but....)The only other contemporary country acts that can touch them in terms of international popularity are Faith Hill and Shania Twain.

I'm not a fan. Their music doesn't interest me in the least. They are nothing special to me. I think they gained in popularity simply from one song that they didn't even write or orginally perform and their nasty comments about Bush. If it wasn't for these two things, they would be nowhere.

the irony is that,their CD is selling like crazy.It's Number One for the second week in a row.I guess people would rather listen to their music instead of seeing it performed live?

good because their new album is a snore fest

That speaks a lot the insane people that live in those areas. Still holding out for Bush? Whatever....The Dixie Chicks should just skip those red states altogether. I'm sure they do well in all the blue state cities.

Oh great they cancelled the Houston presale...

kisscamille said:

I liked the CD Home. I've always appreciated the freshness and irreverence of the songs they choose, and can recall as far back as 2000(?) them sweeping many country music awards and having artists like Vince Gill declare on tv that "there's a new sherriff in town" with regards to their talent. For me, Maines is a great vocal centerpiece for the group (and not a half-bad bass player),and again, between Emily Robson and Marty Maquire, there are few women in country music who are the virtuosoes that those two women are on their respective instruments....

...and as for the Bush controversy, the comment was not credited to them all, rather than the lead vocalist, and I don't see why people behave so immaturely about it. Natalie Maines was the one who said, out of frustration in the days leading to the War, "....just so that you know, I am ashamed that President Bush is from Texas"...what's so NASTY about that? I mean, if people don't like country music anyway I can see how the Chicks wouldn't impress them. But to take that simple comment, and say that these girls are not deserving of the accolades they have reaped because they are not talented, and are only sucessful because they are riding the wave of controversy, shows a kind of tunnel vision that's very disappointing, and less than musically inclined.

my partner and I are going to the D.C. show. I really dig the new CD, but more importantly I want to support them.

Go Dixie Chicks!!!!