BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Six songs and 17 minutes into Lynyrd Skynyrd’s set headlining Musikfest’s main Steel Stage on Wednesday, singer Johnny Van Zant addressed the audience.
“People call us a tribute band,” Van Zant said. “We’re a legacy band. … We’re carrying on the legacy of my brother Ronnie” and other band members who have passed.
It was a startling admission that the band on stage, despite its name, was not Lynyrd Skynyrd, whose last founding member, guitarist Gary Rossington, died last year.
That made enjoying the band — or evaluating its performance — easier without the pretention that what you were watching had to live up to the original band.
And the show very much was a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, as Van Zant — who has been in the band since 1987 — went over the top referencing the original members.
[Guitarist Rickey Medlocke, who has been in the band since 1971 and is the only member who played with the original lineup, was largely relegated to the background.]
In an hour-and 22-minute set, Lynyrd Skynyrd played 13 songs — all the hits, but also deeper tunes — spanning the band’s career.
Most of the songs were broader interpretations, largely missing the intricacies of the original versions and, perhaps, much of the passion.
