Southern rock royalty was in the house at Birmingham’s Utilita Arena this week with the long-awaited return of the mighty Lynyrd Skynyrd, over here for the first time since 2019 and also for the first time without the late Gary Rossington. Opting to continue with the band since Rossington, the last of the originals, passed in 2023, this current tour celebrates fifty years of the very finest southern rock and keeps the Skynyrd flag alive and rocking.
Special guests Blackberry Smoke kicked off the night in style, as we’ve come to expect from a band who have been coming over here for a good while now. Having witnessed them at various venues around Birmingham it was satisfying to catch them on a bigger stage, and judging by the amount of t-shirts in the crowd, a good many of their fans were in attendance to enjoy it. Allocated sixty minutes, Charlie Starr & co made the very most of it, long time favourites ‘Good One Comin’ On’ and ‘Pretty Little Lie’ getting the party started. Any fan of the headliners, The Marshall Tucker Band or Creedence is sure to be impressed by Blackberry Smoke, and this tour should see many new converts to their good time, blues-infused, country rock and roll. Throwing in snippets of ‘When the Levee Breaks’ and ‘Midnight Special’ to go along with the riff-tastic ‘Sleeping Dogs’ and ‘Ain’t Much Left of Me’ made for a terrific opening set.
A video history of the bands formative years welcomed Lynyrd Skynyrd to the stage and the band wasted no time in getting everyone on their feet with ‘Workin’ for MCA’. The set list was exclusively made up of the essential songs that built the Skynyrd legacy, with ‘What’s Your Name’, ‘That Smell’ and ‘Saturday Night Special’ soon following the opener. Damon Johnson has been welcomed to the fold to make up the triple guitar assault of himself, Ricky Medlocke and Mark Matejka, and, judging by the amount of time he spent in the spotlight, the former Black Star Riders guitarist does a lot of the heavy lifting. Up front and centre of course is the unmistakable figure of Johnny Van Zant, still doing his late brother Ronnie justice and having a blast in the process. He took every opportunity to remember Gary Rossington, most notably during the stirring tribute that was ‘Tuesday’s Gone’, when the rear video screen exclusively featured footage of the late guitarist.
The trip down memory lane continued for the rest of the show with the sensational ‘Simple Man’ being followed by ‘Gimme Three Steps’, ‘Call me the Breeze’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, all of which sounded spectacular. And, after briefly leaving the stage, they returned for the inevitable ‘Free Bird’, beginning with the candlelight tribute to the each of the fallen former members, Johnny then giving way to his brother for the second verse, and lastly the glorious guitar blow-out that was simply captivating. Eyebrows have been raised about Lynyrd Skynyrd carrying on for so many years with only one original member left in Rossington, and even more so now they have continued without him. If tonight’s performance was anything to go by the band are playing these songs with love and conviction, and crowds all over the world are still enjoying every minute of it.
Setlist:-
Workin’ for MCA
What’s Your Name
That Smell
I Know a Little
Saturday Night Special
Down South Jukin’
Gimme Back My Bullets
Cry for the Bad Man
The Needle and the Spoon
Tuesday’s Gone
Simple Man
Gimme Three Steps
Call Me the Breeze
Sweet Home Alabama
Free Bird
