Ten minutes before Lynyrd Skynyrd took the stage on Saturday night, the announcement alone of the band’s impending performance drew more applause than any festival performer in recent history.
As far as the eye could see, concert-goers to Foothills Fall Festival Day Two packed downtown Maryville’s Theater in the Park for the legendary Southern rock band, which took the stage around 8:30 p.m. and didn’t stop until an hour and a half later. Surveying the crowd, WIVK-FM radio personality Jack Ryan commented on the good fortune that shined on the day’s events.
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“I think it has a lot to do with how the stars really aligned this year,†Ryan said. “The weather has been perfect, the music is something that everyone has been looking forward to and the shape of the economy means that people want a good value for their money. It’s really amazing to see.â€
“Amazing†didn’t quite do justice to the sight of the crowd taking in the final show of the night. Before the band took the stage, the overwhelming majority of those on hand were on their feet, a rarity for a festival known for its relaxed atmosphere and casual enjoyment of the variety of music on tap. Then again, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s appearance was a rarity, and the opening power chords of the band’s brand of Southern rock signalled that, for 2010 at least, rock ‘n’ roll was the order of the night.
The crowd didn’t quite headbang to the band’s hits — “That Smell,†“Gimme Three Steps,†“Sweet Home Alabama†— but it came close. Pumped fists, flicked lighters, screams of approval — and the inevitable cries for “Free Bird,†the band’s final song of the night — swept across the crowd like tidal waves of primal rock ‘n’ roll ferocity. Even those fans in attendance who, like the members of Skynyrd, have more wild years behind them than they do ahead answered the call for the Skynyrd Nation, as singer Johnny Van Zant referred to fans, to represent.
“I was a little rebellious growing up — not so much into country or gospel,†said Knoxville resident Jerry Sayne, formerly of Louisville. “Their music just moves me. It feels like those guys are following their dreams, and they’re definitely a Southern man’s type of band.
“The music … the beat … the words … they all speak to the common man. And they seem to be in it for the fans.â€
From the stage, Van Zant frequently thanked the fans, descending into the crowd to allow those in the front row to sing a few bars of “Sweet Home Alabama†at one point. Guitarists Gary Rossington and Rickey Medlocke, two members of Skynyrd who date back before the band’s infamous 1977 plane crash, were part of a four-guitar assault generating rock licks that reverberated off of the hillside at the back of the park.
“It’s about us — it’s about our home,†Maryville High grad Taylor Stinnett, now a student at the University of Tennessee, said about the band’s music.
“It’s rock and roll about the South and good times,†added fellow MHS grad and UT student Jimmy Webber. “It’s the Southern way.â€
For Blount County shop foreman Randal Varner, attending Saturday night’s show was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. Originally from Soddy Daisy, he said he’s been a fan of Lynyrd Skynyrd since the early 1970s but had never had the opportunity to see the group live until this weekend.
“To me, it just means down home music that I was raised on,†he said. “This is country and rock, and I’m country to the bone. I just hope I get to see them. I love their music and still have their CDs in my car, but I hope I get close enough to see them good.â€
By the time Skynyrd took the stage, the energy in Theater in the Park was so palpable that it didn’t matter. (And it helped that the Jumbotron screens broadcast every contorted grimace from Medlocke, who alternated between cradling his guitar like a lover and choking its neck like an enemy.) Fans of all ages stood enraptured, parents hoisting children onto their shoulders and all worshipping at the altar of legends who turned the song “Free Bird†into a pop culture icon.
“If you like country, if you like rock, then you like Skynyrd,†said Greeneville, Tenn., resident Jack Setser.â€Everybody knows Lynyrd Skynyrd. And I love pretty much everything about them. The first time I saw them was when they played a free concert a few years ago, and I stood in line eight hours to get tickets.â€
For Jeremy Wilburn, Kyler Braden and Ryan Johnson — students at the William Blount Ninth Grade Academy — Lynyrd Skynyrd enjoyed its 1970s heyday long before they were even born. But the band’s music, they said, is something they were raised on. It’s an integral part of their upbringing, and as much as they love other bands, there’s something to be said for music that seems written into their Southern DNA.
“I grew up listening to it,†Wilburn said. “I love it. It just goes along with living in the South.â€
The band saved its two most famous songs — “Sweet Home Alabama†and “Free Bird†— for its curtain call. After leaving the stage for the inevitable pre-encore pause, the house lights dimmed, and a veritable sea of lighters waved back and forth as a slow-building chant for the latter song reached a roaring crescendo. The band returned to the stage, Van Zant taking a few minutes to again thank the loyalty of those in attendance, and then that song so intertwined with Southern popular culture began.
After it ended several minutes later, the band members hurried to their waiting tour buses, which swept them away into the Blount County night. The crowd slowly filtered out of Theater in the Park, elated and solemn at the same time. Many wondered, no doubt, how tonight’s performances by Colt Ford, Jake Owen and Blake Shelton could possibly top it.
“They’re just amazing,†Maryville resident Nikki Snoderly said. “They’re Lynyrd Skynyrd. Do you have to say anything else?
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