LYNYRD SKYNYRD, SSE Hydro
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“I MAY be old but I got to see all the good bands,” read the slogans on a couple of T-shirts worn by sixtysomething audience members at the Hydro. Few of that vintage would dispute that the ‘good bands’ included Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose swagger redefined Southern rock on the back of their first two albums, in 1973 and 1974.
Unfortunately, after another three studio albums and a live album, Skynyrd began to be dogged by personal tragedy. Today, the only surviving constant member of the band’s earliest incarnations is guitarist Gary Rossington, and Skynyrd are now on a lengthy farewell tour.
Their legacy rests largely on those first two albums, which were laden with such potent classics as Sweet Home Alabama, Tuesday’s Gone, The Needle and the Spoon, and the epic set-closer, Free Bird.
The band’s original lead singer, the charismatic Ronnie Van Zant, died in 1977; his place has been taken by his brother, Johnny, who prowls the stage, mic stand in hand, whipping up the crowd’s fervour. The crowd, however, needed little bidding.
Skynyrd’s setlist relies for the most part on those first two albums, with a handful of tracks from the subsequent three studio albums. Workin’ for MCA was a brisk opener, and from then on the familiar songs kept on coming: The Needle & the Spoon; Saturday Night Special, a caustic look at US gun culture; a spirited The Ballad of Curtis Loew; an energetic, extended cover of JJ Cale’s Call Me the Breeze.
The band - singer, three guitars, bass, drums, keyboards and two female backing vocalists - were in sparkling, road-hardened form. The three guitarists, including Rossington, frequently grouped together to play, echoing the Skynyrd of old.
Sweet Home Alabama was received rapturously, and the 10-minute-long encore was, naturally, Free Bird. A video screen at the rear of the stage depicted flickering candles bearing the names of all the Skynyrd personnel lost over the years, and there was moving footage of Ronnie Van Zant himself, singing the song, looking down on his bandmates, new and old, as they brought the show to a climax.
Russell Leadbetter
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