Dixie Chicks tour U.S. after 10 years

On Wednesday night at an amphitheater in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Dixie Chicks will take the stage in front of thousands. It’s a significant moment for the Texas trio, as it marks the first time in 10 years they’ll headline a tour in America.

After everything that happened with the polarizing group, who would have thought they would ever return? With massive success in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Dixie Chicks became one of the highest selling female bands in history with albums from “Wide Open Spaces” to “Home.” Then everything imploded in March 2003 when lead singer Natalie Maines uttered her famous statement about then President George W. Bush during a concert in Britain, close to the invasion of Iraq: “We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”

Country music fans reacted with horror — the Dixie Chicks were soon dropped from country radio and their hit single at the time, “Travelin’ Soldier,” plummeted from the top of the charts. As shown in the documentary “Shut Up in Sing” about the aftermath of the controversy, one country station invited people to trash their Dixie Chicks CDs; another scene showed a bulldozer crushing a huge pile of albums. The group lost sponsorship deals and ticket sales, and were vilified by the internet and some fellow Nashville, Tenn., stars. Not to mention receiving death threats.

In the midst of it all, the group released one more album, the fiery, unapologetic “Taking the Long Way,” and went on another tour in 2006 — some dates had to be scrapped because of lack of sales. The tour wrapped in Dallas in December 2006; a couple months later, they scooped up a bunch of Grammy Awards (including album of the year) for “Taking the Long Way.” After that, it appeared the Dixie Chicks were done.

Until now. In the last decade, the trio tried out some new projects, as Maines recorded a rock album and sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire formed the Courtyard Hounds, a bluegrass duo. Though they performed as the Dixie Chicks on quick tours in Europe and some dates opening for the Eagles in America, this is the first attempt at a headlining tour (titled DCX MMXVI World Tour) in the United States since the fallout.

The question remains: How will it go when they return to the country where they’re still considered polarizing? While the Cincinnati, Ohio, opening night tour stop is sold out, tickets are still readily available for shows in other areas, where the group is playing some big venues. So much time has passed, but when you say “Dixie Chicks” in America, people still vividly remember the controversy.

“What sucks is where people’s opinions used to be a truer opinion about our music, now it feels tainted,” Maines recently told the Oakland Press. “If someone hates it, it’s probably because they hate me politically. So the judgment of it just isn’t as honest and pure as it used to be.”

On their recent European leg of the tour, the crowds were thrilled to see them — they remain quite popular overseas. And no, they’re still not afraid of speaking up about politics.

On a screen with background graphics during the European shows, there were caricatures of all this year’s presidential hopefuls when the group played “Ready to Run.” And during their famed hit “Goodbye Earl” about two women who poison a physically abusive man, the screen showed a picture of abusive men throughout history — and an image of Donald Trump with devil horns.