Southern-fried boogie

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This article was published 09/03/2019 (2698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Finally, a chance to yell Free Bird, free of cheap sarcasm.

Shouting out the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic at random concerts has been a bad joke for so long now — heck, even singer Johnny Van Zant did it at a Cher show — that it’s sometimes easy to forget what a blast it is to surrender oneself to its triple-guitar attack.

But more on that later.

Skynyrd brought their Last of the Street Survivors farewell tour to Bell MTS Place Friday, rocking the rafters with their southern-fried boogie.

And survivors they are. But like any band that’s been around as long as they have, the Lynyrd Skynyrd of today is not the band that recorded Street Survivors, the 1977 high watermark released just days before a plane crash claimed the lives of de facto leader and singer Ronnie Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines and backup singer Cassie Gaines, effectively shuttering the band for a decade.

Today, guitarist Gary Rossington remains the only through line connecting the band to its 1973 debut album, with Johnny Van Zant filling his older brother’s shoes on vocals.

But personnel changes don’t tell the whole story. Skynyrd always had a redneck rep (deserved or not), but the band took a sharp turn right when it regrouped. Where once they decried gun violence with the song Saturday Night Special (“hand guns are made for killin’, they ain’t no good for nothin’ else”), on 1991’s God and Guns they defended gun rights with a zeal just this side of Charlton Heston.

And while the band has always had a complicated relationship with the Confederate flag, the post-millennium Skynyrd doubled-down and embraced the connection before rethinking things in recent years.

But there was no flag waving on this night (though Van Zant did have a Confederate flag tied to his mic stand). This last victory lap was all about the glory day hits and shoulda beens of the ’70s.

The band hit the stage to a recording of Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock and Roll before tearing into Workin for MCA, their caustic kiss-off to the recording industry from their 1974 album, Second Helping.

They followed that up with Skynyrd Nation, the only non-’70s song of the night, a thundering tribute to both their fans and themselves.

What’s Your Name, from Street Survivors, showed off the rollicking piano work of Peter Keys. Backup singers Dale Krantz-Rossington and Carol Chase seasoned That Smell and other tunes with southern gospel sass.

Van Zant belted with rough hell yeah, good ole boy authority, his Ronnie DNA clearly evident.

But Skynyrd, no matter what their incarnation, has always been driven by their power guitar trio, and Rossington, Rickey Medlocke, and Mark Matejka didn’t disappoint, whether playing the jump-jazzy I Know a Little or a crunching Saturday Night Special.

Sweet Home Alabama ended the show proper with fans offering thunderous vocal support. And then there was Free Bird, saved for the encore. Against a video backdrop of band members gone but not forgotten, Skynyrd’s three guitars locked in for 10 soaring minutes of classic rock rapture.

Hometown hero Randy Bachman and his band opened the show with a choice selection of BTO and Guess Who hits showing at 75, he hasn’t lost his touch working the big room.

Shakin’ All Over and These Eyes turned into enthusiastic singalongs, suggesting many in the audience came to see Bachman just as much as they did Skynyrd.

For No Sugar Tonight, Bachman threw in some Bo Diddley licks, roughening the song’s familiar edges.

Bachman’ son Tal took over vocals for his 1999 hit She’s So High, with Dad adding some stinging licks.

Blue collar anthem Takin’ Care Of Business had the audience fist pumping and shaking all over. As a singer, Bachman has always been a great guitarist, but for this meat and potatoes classic his no-frills delivery remained the perfect match.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca