The Chicks Play 'Taking the Long Way' in Full and Reload the Bush-Era Fight

The Chicks played their five-Grammy album "Taking the Long Way" in its entire 14-song running order at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026 — two nights before the midterm elections. Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer sat on stools for an hour and a half and told the story behind nearly every track, including what the band has euphemistically called "the incident" for 23 years: Maines' 2003 statement that she was ashamed to share a home state with then-president George W. Bush.

The tour marks the 20th anniversary of the 2006 record, which swept the Grammys' top three categories — album, record and song of the year. It wrapped a three-night Dolby stand that included an election-night show on Tuesday and a Wednesday make-up for a Monday date canceled over an unspecified band illness.

What did Maines say about Bush and Trump?

"It was 20 years ago, and a lot has changed since then," Maines told the crowd of 3,400. "Now I would give George Bush a big kiss. Now we're ashamed the President of the United States from the United States." Maines noted the White House had responded to similar earlier remarks; spokesperson Davis Ingle said on Oct. 15 that Maines "clearly suffers from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome that has completely rotted her peanut-sized brain." Before singing "I Hope," Maines said a recent visit to the Obama museum gave her hope of a country not "run by a deranged nutjob." On Tuesday, all three members fanned themselves with large "Fuck Trump" fans.

The show mixed pre-scripted and spontaneous banter with documentary clips on the big screen, some from "Shut Up and Sing," many unreleased — what the review calls a "docu-concert." The trio kept the album's original sequence, so "Not Ready to Make Nice" landed three songs in. A film reel of right-wing commentary preceded it, including Bill O'Reilly's remark that "these are callow, foolish women who deserve to be slapped around."

How did the band describe writing 'Not Ready to Make Nice'?

Maines recounted their first writing session with Dan Wilson, who co-wrote six of the album's songs: "he said, 'So you probably wanna write about the incident… You wanna write like an apology song?' We said, 'Fuck that.' And he was like, 'OK, fine. How about "Not Ready to Make Nice"?'" Strayer, the trio's banjo player, added: "Even though we went through all the stages of grief, we landed on anger for most of it, and we thought it was so specific to our story that it wouldn't necessarily relate to everybody else, but little did we know or anticipate that it would become such an anthem for everybody else's story as well."

The between-song commentary covered the deep cuts, too. Ten of the album's 14 songs hadn't been played in at least a decade. "Baby Hold On" had never been performed live before this tour; "So Hard," "I Hope," "Bitter End" and "Voice Inside My Head" hadn't been played since 2006. "So Hard," Strayer noted, grew out of Maguire's IVF scheduling battles on a European tour — "I had to go see a different gynecologist in a different country every other day," Maguire explained. "Baby Hold On," Strayer admitted, was "probably more about desperation at that point" than hope; she and then-husband Charlie Robison divorced within a couple of years. "We've all been there," Maines responded.

The band confirmed the final verse of "Bitter End" described their 2003 estrangement from the country music establishment — though the hats and boots in the Dolby crowd showed much of that audience never left.

Does the album still hold up?

Yes, per the review: "Taking the Long Way" stands as "a superior collection of music," not just a political milestone — a strong second to "Home" in the group's catalog, shaped with producer Rick Rubin.

The second act delivered nine hits, including the "Daddy Lessons"/"Long Time Gone" mashup premiered with Beyoncé at the 2016 CMA Awards, and the title track of 2020's "Gaslighter." With only one album in 20 years, the question fans left with is whether the retrospective's documentary digging has reminded the band they like the recording studio.