Skynyrd Basks in Success
October, 1976; reviewed By Dale Anderson
Lynyrd Skynyrd, the band that named themselves after the gym teacher who kicked them out of high school in Jacksonville, Fla., for having long hair, has gone to the head of the class.
They’ve gotten there with basic Southern boogie and a lot of hard work – 3 years of almost constant touring. This fall they’ve capped their climb with a two-record live album that’s about to pop into the Top 10.
So their appearance as headliners Friday night in Memorial Auditorium before a crowd of upwards of 13,000 was, above all, a celebration of their success.
But they also showed signs of the ceremoniousness and lack of challenge that comes from being at the top. No longer do they shatter expectations. They’re obliged to satisfy them instead.
Coming onstage to the recorded strains of the theme from “Gunsmoke,” they savored their success, but did not exceed it as they blasted through their repertoire with triple guitars.
Burly lead singer Ronnie Van Zant, hair hanging to his shoulders beneath a hat, brandished his mike stand more out of grace than out of the old implied anger.
Nonetheless, their music hit hard and kept the crowd on its feet some 90 minutes through a closing “Sweet Home Alabama” and a two-song encore of the blues standard, “Crossroads,” and their own “Free Bird.”
Preceding them was the J. Geils Band, a hit band that turned stylized and has gone on the skids.
That hasn’t kept them from being as bold and bluesy as ever. Lead singer Peter Wolf, in his standard sunglasses and glittery black suit, laid out a steady line of jive.
It was an energetic formula, well-suited to their more recent rockers like “Must’ve Got Lost,” “Ain’t Nothin’ But a Party” and “Detroit Breakdown,” but it lacked the aggressive spontaneity that once got them to the top.
The Alpha Band, comprised of various elements of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, greeted incoming fans with an agreeable set of mostly unfamiliar country-rock and a hot steel guitarist.
Marring the evening were overlong intermissions between the groups (the show didn’t end until 1:15 a.m.) and an overabundance of fireworks.
Halloween costumes in the bedenimed crowd ranged from amusing to outrageous. There were people dressed as bacteria, a witch in blackface with silver hair and a girl in a bright yellow divers suit. A Snoopy dog won promoter Harvey & Corky’s costume contest.
