Rebel Rousers
Lynyrd Skynyrd's seen lonely times lately, but at their Aug.
10 Landmark Theatre stop, the Southern rockers had good company
in their rabid devotees. "You guys are kicking our ass!"
whooped singer Johnny Van Zant. "We've been off tour for two
weeks. We're just gettin' back into the swing of things."
In fact, those weeks were spent in mourning of Van Zant's dad Lacy,
who died Aug. 3. Their first show since his passing could have been a
solemn affair but they wouldn't have it. During their encore, video
clips celebrated past band members, including founding singer Ronnie
Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie
Gaines, who all perished in a 1977 plane crash, as down below the
lot fanned "Freebird" to orgiastic heights of guitar wank.
Band members' wordless hand motions screamed "Yes! Yes!" as
affirmation bled in the set for what this band is and has been, despite
their sorry contrast to the lithe, badass Skynyrd of yore. Their hair
was too long, their pants were too tight and most of their waistlines
were bulging.
But they're still fiery players, especially Rickey Medlocke,
who soloed for a solid five minutes in the encore and even quoted the
Star-Spangled Banner. Sometimes he and fellow guitarists Gary
Rossington and Hughie Thomasson worked tandem rhythms, making
symbiosis; the front line's power chords in "What's Your Name"
were sonic mountains of rock'n'roll whupass.
Skynyrd walked that thin line between Southern pride and straight-up
jingoism as they always have, and somehow endeared with their honesty.
With "Gimme Three Steps" they waved a white flag to big bad
men who want their wives back, and in "Sweet Home Alabama"
endearingly bagged on Neil Young for making lyrically dubious statements
about the South (his "Southern Man" prompted the tune):
"Well, I hope Neil Young will remember/ a Southern man don't need
him around anyhow."
The band wears its pride, and however that rubs you their tunes go
down easy because they've the chops to back it up. The opening notes of
both "Gimme" and "Sweet Home" instantly conjured
Union Jacks and the band's hairy mugs. Incidentally, their mugs are very
different than in the 1970s: Van Zant filled in the shoes of brother
Ronnie in 1987, and shares the current lineup with only two original
members, hot-shit axeman Rossington and keyboardist Gary Powell.
Still, "That's How I Like It" and "Call Me the
Breeze" had a lot of life in them, as did opener "Workin' for
MCA," whose circular opening riff forecast the show's kinetic pace
in the first few seconds.
Throughout the set, comic relief came in shameless video plugs for
A&E's forthcoming series Dog the Bounty Hunter, about Duane
"Dog" Chapman's hunt for bail-jumpers. The dude has 12
kids, dons an otherworldly mullet and has nada to do with Skynyrd,
except that his TV show, debuting Aug. 31, is a small sponsor of
Skynyrd's Vicious Cycle tour. And both have red napes, as Van Zant
proudly affirmed in the proletarian "Red, White and Blue": My
hair's turning white/ my neck's always been red/ my collar's still
blue."
Behind Van Zant sprawled a huge American flag while video feeds
panned rural America, the working class and military bombs blowing enemy
targets to shit. Ahhh, America. The hackneyed imagery was too familiar,
as was the repertoire, relying almost exclusively on classics; when they
burst into a medley of standbys mid-set it began to sound like the
Skynyrd Revue. These cats are aces at their craft, and the crowd lapped
it up, but less glory-hording would behoove a band that's already
milking its name.
Although Chapman never showed, bucking the show's innuendo ("Skynyrd
and Dog team up!") opener Miss E.
proffered sweet enough appetizers. Fellow Mind Funk mate Pat
De Salvo, on acoustic bass, shined with the blueswoman on Buffalo
Springfield's "For What It's Worth" and her own "Forever
and a Day." "Some of you might know me from the Dinosaur
Bar-B-Que," she said of her days busking outside the rib/blues
joint, "so I'm gonna take you back to those days." Then she
played an incendiary "Nobody Knows When You're Down and Out,"
laughing between a couple verses as if in keen awe at the crowd. Seats
were packed, to be sure, but the duo brimmed with backyard-barbecue
composure.
July-9-05
Well
we got Nominated for a Sammy!!!But
we did not Win! But we did get Nominated! When
you put any Music out for The Public your wide open to be Reviewed and
as they say put under the Microscope. Nobody puts out something they
think is bad or not up to Par. What they are doing is Documenting the
Moment so Enjoy.
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