Canada Hearts Dixie Chicks, U.S. Not So Much

Tue., Aug. 8, 2006 10:40 AM PDT by Gina Serpe

Somewhere, Toby Keith is smiling.

The Dixie Chicks have been forced to cancel, postpone and otherwise finagle several concert dates on the North American leg of their Accidents & Accusations tour, citing the desire to "accommodate demand," though the group's waning ticket sales appear to be the more likely culprit.

In any case, the free-speaking country trio has revised its fall itinerary, replacing several of the low-selling U.S. gigs with stops in Canada.

"This is a year where we weren't sure what to expect," the Grammy-winning group said in a statement last week. "We were prepared for a lot of things as we figure out this new phase of our career.

"We hope that our fans who were looking forward to a stop that is no longer on the tour will be able to join us at a nearby arena this fall, and we are sorry for any confusion or inconvenience these changes have caused."

Per the Dixie Chicks' revised schedule, posted to their official Website, 14 cities have been removed entirely from the tour, including would-be gigs in the normal country music hotbeds of Houston, Memphis, Knoxville and Kansas City.

According to Billboard, ticket sales were the most lackluster in the South and Midwest, not that surprising considering the native Texans' outspoken criticisms of President Bush and their stated shame at his having sharing a home state, comments revisited this spring--around the time tickets for their tour went on sale--in an interview with Time magazine.

"I apologized for disrespecting the office of the President," frontchick Natalie Maines said. "But I don't feel that way anymore. I don't feel he is owed any respect whatsoever."

While the dates won't be rescheduled for the nixed cities, the tour won't be truncated. The total number of North American stops remains the same at 49, they've just been redistributed.

In addition to the relocated dates, several more have simply been postponed. Gigs in Los Angeles, Nashville, Denver and Phoenix, originally slated to take place in September, have been moved back to November.

The Accidents & Accusations tour, which kicked off in Detroit July 21, now wraps in Dallas Dec. 5.

The Dixie Chicks' new batch of Canadian gigs allows will coincide with the premiere of their documentary, Dixie Chicks--Shut Up and Sing, at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

The film chronicles the firestorm that resulted from Maines' anti-Bush screed during a London concert in 2003. Oscar-winning director Barbara Kopple helmed the documentary.