photo credit: Alex Kluft
It is irrelevant how a solo headlining appearance by Lynyrd Skynyrd evolved into a fantastic three-headed behemoth slotting Skynyrd between Cheap Trick and ZZ Top. Perhaps as a 50th anniversary present, Skynyrd graciously ceded the show’s closing spot to the Texas trio. Regardless, ZZ Top more than expressed their gratitude with 90 minutes of raw, searing power.
Celebrating 50 years together, the bearded duo of bassist DustyHill and guitarist Billy Gibbons, and their mustachioed drummer, Frank Beard, sizzledand strutted through a set dominated by the decade-and-a-half span beginningwith their birth in ‘69 through 1983’s massive hit, Eliminator. There were thechart-toppers- “Legs” and “Gimme All Your Lovin,”- and nods to the early years-“Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers” and “Just Got Paid.” And a first encore of “La Grange” and “Tush”that wasn’t enough for the capacity crowd, bringing the three back for a“Jailhouse Rock” finale.
Hill and Gibbons were, as always, fashionably cool, flashingfaux-tattered guitars splattered in day-glo paint; an apt metaphor for a group foreverwith one foot planted in vintage blues and the other progressively stepping forward. On this night, though, there was none of thesynth-gloss embellishment that famously coated Eliminator. Instead, Topdelivered the smashes of their ‘80s catalog in the same manner as their early roadhouserepertoire; with Beard’s percussive precision anchoring Hill’s jacked-up rumbleand Gibbons’ barbed-wire bites, branding the boogies, shuffles, and rockerswith hot-iron heat.
Lynyrd Skynyrd dutifully adhered to the principle of givingthe people what they want on a well-honed run through the classics. Singer Johnny Van Zant noted the 33 yearsthis tribute group has been on the road, now in the midst of their Last of the Street Survivors farewelltour. Notably, the show also marked thefirst return to the stage for guitarist Gary Rossington, the only foundingmember remaining from the original group, after a late-July surgery.
Rossington looked in good health and spirit, playing theindelible slide guitar of the closing “Freebird” beneath the candle-lit namesof Skynyrd’s many deceased projected above. Van Zant had one more heart string to pull, placing his late brotherRonnie’s iconic hat atop his mic stand and exiting the stage. Via archival black-and-white video, the band’sfounding vocalist sang the final lines before the famed extended guitar solocarried out this polished, yet emotional performance.
It seems unfair to reduce Cheap Trick’s exuberant andsharply executed appearance to a quick mention. Especially given that it included Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarkesitting-in on “Dream Police” and “Surrender.” For those there early enough to enjoy it, no doubt it will be rememberedequally as well in the legacy of this summer night when three of America’squintessential classic rock bands thrilled Southern California.
