Venue: Riverport Amphitheatre, St. Louis
Reviewed By: Jerry
I bought a ticket to this show with pretty high expectations and excitement. I’d seen Skynyrd before – about 15 years ago. Just as then, they sounded great at this show. The great performance is no doubt a result of years and years of touring with primarily the same band. As Johnny Van Zant mentioned, they’ve been doing it this way for the last 31 years. They played all of the favorites including a couple of mine – Ballad of Curtis Loew and Call Me The Breeze. And, if you have never experienced it well, you’re probably out of luck. But everyone should hear Skynyrd play Simple Man and Freebird live at least once in their life. Both really are special moments.
On stage just before Skynyrd was what I was anticipating the most – Hank Jr. When Skynyrd announced their tour, Hank Jr was the one opener that I hoped we’d get in St. Louis. I have to admit that my excitement for seeing Hank Jr for the first time probably elevated my appreciation for his performance. Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job. But, he did a lot of talking. I’m fine with some talking if it’s storytelling and the like but he was all about professing the fact he was a rebel and rule-breaker kind of guy. He played all or parts of just about everything I know by him, which isn’t a lot. I say all or parts because during the latter half of the show he played no less than three medleys. And, some of the songs within the medleys were only represented by one or two lines. When those were some of his popular songs, it was a bit anti-climatic. Perhaps if he wasn’t an opener and had more stage time, his set would be different. He sounded great and certainly energized the crowd.
The first band was 38 Special. These guys never really excited me. Some good catchy tunes but that’s about it. They played all you’d want to hear and really did sound great. But I could have done without them. And, does a Skynyrd/Hank Jr crowd really want to hear ‘Second Chance’?
Reviewed By: Jerry
I bought a ticket to this show with pretty high expectations and excitement. I’d seen Skynyrd before – about 15 years ago. Just as then, they sounded great at this show. The great performance is no doubt a result of years and years of touring with primarily the same band. As Johnny Van Zant mentioned, they’ve been doing it this way for the last 31 years. They played all of the favorites including a couple of mine – Ballad of Curtis Loew and Call Me The Breeze. And, if you have never experienced it well, you’re probably out of luck. But everyone should hear Skynyrd play Simple Man and Freebird live at least once in their life. Both really are special moments.
On stage just before Skynyrd was what I was anticipating the most – Hank Jr. When Skynyrd announced their tour, Hank Jr was the one opener that I hoped we’d get in St. Louis. I have to admit that my excitement for seeing Hank Jr for the first time probably elevated my appreciation for his performance. Don’t get me wrong, he did a great job. But, he did a lot of talking. I’m fine with some talking if it’s storytelling and the like but he was all about professing the fact he was a rebel and rule-breaker kind of guy. He played all or parts of just about everything I know by him, which isn’t a lot. I say all or parts because during the latter half of the show he played no less than three medleys. And, some of the songs within the medleys were only represented by one or two lines. When those were some of his popular songs, it was a bit anti-climatic. Perhaps if he wasn’t an opener and had more stage time, his set would be different. He sounded great and certainly energized the crowd.
The first band was 38 Special. These guys never really excited me. Some good catchy tunes but that’s about it. They played all you’d want to hear and really did sound great. But I could have done without them. And, does a Skynyrd/Hank Jr crowd really want to hear ‘Second Chance’?
RSS Feed