The 1977 plane crash that destroyed Southern Rock giants Lynyrd Skynyrd looked to put an end to a band that brought us possibly the greatest Arena rock ballad of all time ‘Freebird‘. Ten years later that bird proved to be a phoenix. Rising from the ashes through Johnny Van Zandt (brother of crash victim and singer Ronnie) with founder of the band, Gary Rossington. The new formation was meant to be a short tribute show – but here they are at Kunstrasen, almost forty years later, Lynyrd Skynyrd. With support acts Julian Sas and Simon McBride making this show a don’t-miss for lovers of Bluesrock and guitar riffs from finest.
The first guitar wizard to entrance us was dutchman Julian Sas. Given that Sas has played a sold-out show at Bonn Harmonie every year for a decade or more now it wasn’t really a case of finding new fans this evening. It was instead a case of wanting to be a part of a special evening. As with Henrik Freischlader’s guest slot here a few days ago, Julian came onstage as a trio: guitar, bass (Edwin van Huik) and drums (Lars Erik van Elzakker). There however, the similarity ended. Where Henrik was all smile and finesse, Sas was all grin and take no prisoner guitar attack. With not much time to warm up, he went from cruising speed with the bluesy ‘Stand Your Ground’ through overdrive with ‘Sugarcup Boogie’ arriving at hypersonic by the closing solo of ‘Devil Got My Number’. When I see Julian later on and joke that he didn’t do any flying leaps in the air he smiles back that “I just came here to play!”. And play he did. The smile, the energy and the guitar licks will all be available in Bonn again on 22 November. Same procedure as every year – courtesy of Mr Music.
Second guest spot and second fret-wizard of the evening is Simon McBride. The hard-rockers in tonight’s audience will probably remember him from 2022 where he ably stood in for Steve Morse on guitar for Deep Purple. He obviously made a good impression with Ian Paice, Ian Gillan and Roger Glover too, because he’s still with them now. It’s not hard to hear why either. McBride manages to capture that glorious ’70’s guitar sound to perfection and seems to shred guitar solos with consumate ease but still find emotion in every note.
McBride’s set this evening is largely based around his recent solo release where he finally got to put down in a studio the music he was playing and songs he has been composing since 2020. His sizzling version of the Bryan Adams classic ‘Kids Wanna Rock’ is definitely a stand-out track of the evening but whilst, true to say, his own songs don’t quite hit that ‘stick in the head riff’ of the Adam’s number, they are still very listenable, and more than good enough as the nails to hang up what McBride does best – rock guitar solos.
‘Show me How To Love’ from 2022’s ‘The Fighter‘ has very much the sound and style of Gary Moore to show McBride can tone down the flashness in his solos when necessary. Then again, as ‘King of the Hill’ proved, he is also very capable indeed of putting the hammer down on a rocker, and also coming up with a memorable lick or three. The inevitable calls for Purple classics got a hasty response: “Do I look like I’m gonna sing ‘Child in Time’?” he replies indignantly, before putting down a half riff of that same number and following up with a half riff of ‘Black Night’. Did I miss those Purple numbers in the set? Not in the least. Simon McBride’s own material is worth the visit – His vocals are strong and his guitar playing sublime. Hopefully he has time to shine in his own spotlight and not get lost lost standing in the one Richie Blackmore and Steve Morse have vacated.
Lynyrd Skynyrd? The band has been a part of my entire musical life even though I never actually bought one of their records. In my Portsmouth hometown there were two types of disco: Your typical women dancing round their handbags on the floor to Donna Summer cooing ‘I Feel Love’ or Hard Rock discos with men playing aggressive air guitar to ‘Radar Love’. There were women at these too (albeit less of them), so if you found a dancing partner you could smooch to the first half of ‘Freebird‘ and if you hadn’t found one by the songs mid-point it didn’t matter because there was still that blazing guitar solo for your air guitar to enjoy. In comparison, at the ‘women round handbags’ disco, if you were alone when ‘Three Times a Lady’ or ‘Hello’ started then you got your coat and headed for the door – no guitar riffs to round off an evening with Lionel Richie.
I knew there was more to Lynyrd Skynyrd than one song – even though it’s taken until now, and Saturday evening at Kunstrasen, to hear most of it. But here’s the big question: Is Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2025 really just a glorified coverband? I’m guessing by the somewhat disappointing turnout of 4,300 fans that this viewpoint is possibly a popular one. As mentioned, the original Skynyrd was largely wiped out by a plane crash in 1977. The band’s reformation ten years later was the idea of surviving guitarist and band grounder Gary Rossington. With Rossington’s death in 2023, was the last link in the chain to that legendary formation who first sung ‘Freebird’ and ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ broken?
Well, two links exist for sure in the current line-up. Singer Johnny van Zant replaces his brother perfectly, and Ricky Medlocke, who joined the band in the early ’70’s as drummer re-joined in 1996 on guitar after a successful career with his own band ‘Blackfoot’. Both men give the show 110% this evening for sure.
Following my previous Kunstrasen visit where Bonnie Raitt was glad to be away from the US it’s interesting to find Van Zandt with a Stars & Stripes wound around his mike stand and on his jacket. But hey, Lynyrd Skynyrd represent the best of American Southern Rock – how could they leave that image behind? For most of us currently it’s much more endearing to see the flag of Alabama fluttering onscreen instead. Even before the first chords of ‘Working For MCA’ are played there is a film on the stage backdrop showing the original band. It will not be the last such hommage to the past.
The present band was selected by original guitarist Gary Rossington, who even recommended Damon Johnson as his replacement. The proviso being – and that for all the musicians it seems – that they play exactly what was played on the original recordings. I’m not sure what to make of such instructions to be honest. Rickey Medlocke is an excellent guitarist and if the band had a battery creating its energy it would be him. So how can he repeat the same solos for almost 30 years? This is where the ‘coverband’ feeling does come in.
Or, to be more accurate, ‘Tribute Band’. Make no mistake, this band ROCK and their three prong guitar attack hits home perfectly every time. It is though in the second half of the set where things really come together – ‘Give Me Back My Bullets’ seems to create a change of urgency, and when images of Gary Rossington fill the screen during ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ there is not just nostalgia in the air but tears in the eyes. “The heart of the band” as van Zandt described him.
There were plenty of older fans in attendance happy to sing along to ‘Simple Man’ and plenty of feet dancing towards the back of the audience that I could see during JJ Cale’s ‘Call Me The Breeze’. The appearance again of that southern flag signalling ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ had people singing along like they too were born and bred there. The three guitar attack made sure of a powerful sound, Medlocke finished it all off with an explosive solo. and it was all over, except for…
The band come back for an obvious encore. There’s a silver bird flapping its wings onscreen in case you were wondering. I’m momentarily back in a 70’s disco in my mind as a black and white Ronnie van Zandt replaces the screens bird and the black and white van Zandt (or the colour version, his brother Johnny onstage, I know not which) sings the line ‘If I leave here tomorrow. Will you still remember me?” and I feel a tear in my eye. For Ronnie, for guitarist Steve Gaines, his sister Cassie, and for the band’s manager Dean Kilpatrick who all passed away in 1977. Also for the passing of those rock discos where ‘Freebird’ signalled the end of a wonderful and sweaty musical evening. There is a moment onscreen where the names of those now departed appear with candles alongside them. Are Lynyrd Skynyrd a coverband? No, they are a tribute band, and will remain so whilst there are those onstage who can remember those names on the memorian screen as people.
A night of nostalgia for sure – but also a night celebrating the electric guitar. Thank you Lynyrd Skynyrd, Simon McBride and Julian Sas!
