Re: OT: Saw Lynyrd Skynyrd Last Night
Date: January 17, 2013 08:23
Firat time I sw them was in 1987, the first tour after the plane crash. It was supposed to be a one off "tribute tour". Johnny Van Zant was the singer, Rossington, King and Randall Hall were on guitar (Allen Collins had already had his car wreck and was in a wheelchair), Wilkeson on bass, Powell on piano and Pyle on drums. It was essentially the same band as before sans Ronnie, and they were very good. Old Man Van Zant came out to introduce them. Free Bird was the encore of course, and Johnny refused to sing it. He would say only one man should be singng it so he was going to defer. When the instrumental intro was done, he would lead the crowd into singing the song, which they did every time. It was actually pretty cool.
I've had no desire to see them since. This has got to be one of the most star-crossed bands in the world, what with subsequent unrelated deaths of Collins, Powell, Wilkeson (and Wilkeson's replacement, Ean Evans) and Ed King's heart transplant. I think Jo Jo Billingsley, a back up singer, has died, too.Oh yeah, guitar replacement Hughie Thomasson died of a heart attack, too.
If they wanted, and at this point I don't know why they would bother, they could cobble together Johnny VZ, Rossington, Hall, King (he's apparently sufficiently recovered), whoever is now playing bass and piano, and either Pyle or Bob Burns on drums to have a band with much better actual Skynyrd credibility. Rickey Medlocke was a drummer for a very early version of Skynyrd, so slot him in on guitar for King, maybe. But calling the present day version of this band Lynyrd Skynrd is dishonest, to say the least. If Paul and Ringo formed a band and enlisted two other guitarists, it wouldn't be the Beatles.