If Iowa music fans held any animosity toward the Dixie Chicks for Natalie Maines’ recent anti-Bush comments, it wasn’t evident Tuesday night.

The Hilton Coliseum stop of the band’s “Top of the World” tour delighted a capacity crowd who had nothing but love for the women from Texas.

Leading off with the hit “Goodbye Earl”, lead singer Maines and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison rose from below a sprawling stage on a platform to deafening cheers from the audience.

The band’s rousing tune about domestic abuse and getting even brought the crowd to its feet, staying there through the equally ebullient “Some Days You Gotta Dance” and “There’s Your Trouble”.

Clad in an outfit perhaps more suitable to pop-punk sweetheart Avril Lavigne, complete with several gold chain necklaces and a Flock of Seagulls hairdo, the infamously-outspoken Maines addressed the energetic crowd with a welcome.

“Ames kinda reminds me of where I grew up in Lubbock [Tex.],” the singer announced, her fire-engine red lips curved in a smile. “When we drove around here today, we were thinking, ‘Where the hell are 13,000 people?’ But here you are!”

The band broke into several songs from its latest album, “Home”, including the poignant and timely ballad, “Travelin’ Soldier”. The song tells the tale of a young girl’s eternal wait for a serviceman’s return from Vietnam, and struck a chord with the multigenerational audience, who sang along to the mournful tune.

While much of the Chicks’ commercial success has come through the band’s crossover to the pop charts, the group’s rich bluegrass background showcased on much of “Home” was on full display.

Assembling their impressive band in a half-circle at center stage for “White Trash Wedding” and the instrumental “Lil’ Jack Slade”, the Chicks pulled off a Grand Ole Opry-style jam that would have made Minnie Pearl proud.

Finally, the Chicks addressed the issue that had hung heavily in the hazy auditorium air since the start of the concert — the controversy surrounding Maines and her mouth.

“We put this song on the album just because we liked it,” Maines explained, introducing “Truth No. 2”. “Now after everything that has happened to us … that was definitely life-changing, and once that happened, I understand every word to this song.”

As Maines began the song, with the lyrics “You don’t like the sound of the truth/ coming from my mouth,” video screens surrounding the stage displayed film footage of protesters engaged in political expression, ranging from civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks to former Dixie Chicks fans smashing the band’s CDs. The slideshow ended with the word “tolerance,” and another standing ovation from the crowd.

The only weak point of the evening came in the band’s rendition of the Stevie Nicks classic, “Landslide”. The song, the Chicks’ first single from “Home”, has garnered much radio airplay and heavy video rotation on both MTV and CMT, and was well-received by the Hilton audience.

However, Maines’ strong, overpowering alto and the band’s rushed delivery simply didn’t carry the song on this evening. And sadly, far too many of the Chicks’ younger fans don’t even realize the tune is a cover.

The band’s impressive 19-song set ended with the Chicks’ 1998 breakthrough smash, “Wide Open Spaces”, which featured a working windmill onstage.

Even after a 70-minute thrill-ride with the band, the audience begged for more. When the artists returned for an encore to ear-splitting, thunderous applause, Maines, Robison and Maguire seemed visibly awed.

“Now, I don’t wanna exaggerate,” said Maines with a grin. “But I think y’all are the loudest crowd we’ve had so far.”

A pretty big compliment — coming from a diminutive woman whose flippant (but honest) statement from across the ocean caused a tsunami of criticism in the States.