Wow … Lynyrd Skynyrd
June 07, 2008
Wow.
Is that an appropriate response for the Lynyrd Skynyrd performance me and 100,000 of my closest new friends just saw?
It hardly begins to explain what I cannot.
I leaned over during the show and told the husband if Ronnie Van Zant’s little brother had asked us to go to Washington and demand changes, we would have. Had he asked us to go to Saudi Arabia and demand more oil, we would have. Vote independent? Sure. He had that much of a grip on this crowd.
We stood ready. I told the husband I was sure I wanted a rebel flag in the front yard now. I was sure of it, I tell you.
LS put on an outstanding hour-and-a-half show that was shoulder to shoulder. The crowd went wild and sang along with “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Tuesday’s Gone,” and “Simple Man,” which the band dedicated to the troops.
A half dozen rebel flags flapped in the breeze as Van Zant took a big flag on stage and wrapped his microphone stand with it. I am telling ya, it was a Southern moment of pride, with cigarette lighters glowing in the dark.
For a moment, I was back in the ‘70s doing those things we did in the ‘70s and with little regrets or apologies. We were young again and looking for a good time. For that, we thank the band.
But it was the band who thanked us, the fans. “Thanks for keeping the music alive all these years!” Van Zant said.
LS is one of those great, classic Southern rock bands that has transcended generational lines. The husband and I commented on the number of young people in the crowd. Twenty-something year olds who were not alive for the original Skynyrd, yet they have kept the music alive.
My teenaged daughter is always amazed when I know a song she knows. Then I tell her that band was around back then or the song is a remake. As teens are prone to do, she argues the point.
Back to the present: The band left the stage at 9 and came back in a flash for what ended up being a 30-minute encore of “Free Bird.” The song turned into a memorial for former band members who died 30 years ago in a plane crash in Mississippi.
People are moved. Having a great time and getting’ ready for Hank.
Wish you were here jamin’ with us!!
