Intro
02:10 Workin' for MCA
03:34 What's Your Name
07:06 That Smell
08:21 I Know a Little
11:35 Saturday Night Special
13:11 Down South Jukin'
15:05 Gimme Back My Bullets
16:41 Cry for the Bad Man
18:25 The Needle and the Spoon
20:56 Tuesday's Gone
26:51 Simple Man
34:00 Gimme Three Steps
38:45 Call Me the Breeze
41:34 Sweet Home Alabama
48:07 Encore: Free Bird

It was a first for Lynyrd Skynyrd, their first Parisian concert without any of the original members, the late Gary Rossington having passed away in 2023…

Lynyrd Skynyrd certainly has the most unusual story in rock history. First, a plane crash in 1977 killed mentor singer Ronnie van Zant, the fabulous guitarist Steve Gaines, and his sister, backing singer Cassie Gaines, while the other members of the band were seriously injured…

Then a reformation followed in 1987 with the young and very talented Johnny Van Zant on vocals, replacing his late brother. And then, over the years, the band (which continued to release albums and tour) gradually lost all of its original members, always replaced by excellent musicians, often from great bands (The Outlaws, Blackfoot, The Black Crowes, Cry of Love, Charlie Daniel's Band, Damn Yankees, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some...).

It's worth noting, however, the return in 1996 of guitarist and singer Rickey Medlocke, who was the band's drummer for two and a half years (just before the first album released in 1973). He also collaborated on writing a few songs and sang four.

In short, we now have a tribute band that perpetuates the music of its predecessors, but with class, respect, and determination.

And this concert at the Zénith in Paris was simply amazing. The songs flowed seamlessly, and the music was extremely well-performed.

I was proudly seated in the mosh pit and enjoying the show. The sound was impeccable, the staging superb, especially with the intro video retracing the band's birth. The tribute to all the deceased original members was very moving...

Otherwise, the set was uneventful, except for a fabulous "Cry for a Bad Man," which I'd never seen live.

I still regret that no songs from the Johnny Van Zant era were played, as the band preferred to play the great
classics of the 70s.

The audience was diverse, ranging from 7 to 77 years old, like the Nathan games.

As an anecdote, I had two young girls (barely 20) next to me who sang all the songs by heart. They knew nothing about the band's history, having learned about it through the soundtrack to the movie "Forrest Gump."

I thought it was great...

And what if that was the goal of current formation, transmission...

Manu Aeschbach