The Chicks have continued to make changes to their tour schedule amid an undisclosed illness.
The band gave fans a “tour update” via Instagram on Tuesday, August 1, sharing a written statement. “Due to an ongoing illness, we regret that we must reschedule our show at Merriweather Post Pavilion and cancel our show at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.”
The Chicks — a.k.a. Natalie Maines, Martie Maguire and Emily Strayer — were set to perform in Bethel, New York, on Thursday, August 3, one day after their show in Columbia, Maryland. They will now appear at the Merriweather Post Pavilion on September 20.
According to the social media upload, tickets for the original Maryland concert will still be honored on the rescheduled date. Bethel concertgoers, meanwhile, will be automatically refunded.
The statement didn’t include specifics about the sickness or who in the band was directly impacted. Last week, the country group postponed shows in Nashville and Knoxville, Tennessee, and Greensboro, North Carolina.
“We have made the difficult decision to also reschedule our shows in Knoxville and Greensboro due to illness. We are so sorry for the inconvenience, but our priority is to put on a show you all deserve,” read a Friday, July 28, Twitter statement, which included new dates for each of the three gigs.
The Chicks World Tour kicked off in Norway in June. U.S. dates are scheduled through September before the trio heads to Australia and New Zealand this fall.
Formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, the band announced in June 2020 that they changed their name amid the rise in Black Lives Matter protests throughout the country. “We want to meet this moment,” read a statement shared via The Chicks’ website.
Accompanying the rollout of their new name was the music video for their song “March March,” which appears on the 2020 album Gaslighter. The visual reminded fans to “Use your VOICE” and “Use your VOTE” as the fight for racial justice continued.
While The Chicks have briefly pressed pause on their current tour, fellow country artists are taking the stage across the country — and have been subject to surprising safety hazards. In June, Kelsea Ballerini was performing in Idaho when a fan threw an object on stage and accidentally hit Ballerini in the face. Ballerini’s band members stopped to check on her before she momentarily left the stage.
“Hi. I’m fine,” she informed her Instagram followers after the show. “Someone threw a bracelet, it hit me in the eye, and it more so just scared me than hurt me. We all have triggers and layers of fears way deeper than what is shown, and that’s why I walked offstage to calm down and make sure myself, band and crew, and the crowd all felt safe to continue.”
Ballerini asserted that she hoped her concerts could “feel like a safe place for” both those on stage and in the audience.
The phenomenon of thrown objects has repeated at various shows throughout the summer. As he prepares to hit the road on his Standing Room Only Tour next year, Tim McGraw is expecting the unexpected.
“Hopefully I’m still spry, and hope I can dodge and duck and leap,” he told Entertainment Tonight when asked whether he planned to take extra safety precautions. “I mean, it’s absolutely crazy, and then you ruin the show for everybody else.”
