Southern rock giants Lynyrd Skynyrd must be one of the unluckiest bands ever. At the height of their fame in the 70s, three members – including talismanic frontman Ronnie van Zant – were killed in a plane crash. Original drummer Bob Burns died in a motor accident only this month, the latest of eight Skynyrd musicians to meet a premature end. Even the band’s 1975 signature tune, Free Bird, was written as a tribute to two of the Allman Brothers, who had died in motorcycle accidents three years earlier.
With that backstory, few would blame Skynyrd if they never braved a vehicle again. Yet here they are, touring the world, patched up with younger musicians and with Van Zant’s brother Johnny filling his older sibling’s shoes. Everything feels oddly mid-70s, ranging from the frontman’s stars-and-stripes leather jacket to the band’s curious array of headgear, made from wild animals.
Alas, the unreconstructed hard rock that makes up much of the set has dated just as badly. They’re on safer ground with emotional ballads and the southern-fried boogie that allows Van Zant to indulge in several “yessir”s and even a “yee haw”. A Skynyrd audience is hardly going to raise an eyebrow at the long-locked singer’s dedication to “our troops and your troops, God bless ’em”, although the band pointedly no longer perform under a Confederate flag.
Sweet Home Alabama – their jokey 1974 riposte to Neil Young’s Southern Man – becomes a huge singalong, but it feels as if the evening is one long build-up to Free Bird. The epic anthem is duly rendered with raw, tingling power. It feels slightly eerie hearing Van Zant sing his tragic brother’s question, “If I leave here tomorrow, will you still remember me?” The rapturous audience response answers: a very loud “yessir.”
